Editorial: Blue skies a natural high for all

Having lived in Auckland for the past 10 years, I am used to rain and cloudy skies, so it was fairly normal for me to be ducking and diving to avoid the bad weather.

But it did get me thinking about why we are so fascinated about the colour of the sky above us? We are obsessed by it.

Now, I can understand that many people rely on the weather for their jobs - farmers being a case in point - but the obsession extends to everyone. Even those of us who walk out of the front door, climb into our car and drive to work without so much as a drop of rain touching us.

It reminds me of when I was a young reporter starting out on a provincial newspaper. I was only 19 and still living at home. It was the holidays and my grandmother had come to stay with us.

The weather was unseasonably cold and rainy and every morning she would come through and proclaim: "They say it is going to rain again this afternoon." I was the late-shift reporter at the time and one of my jobs was to write the weather story each day.

After the third day of my grandmother coming through and saying the same thing, my sister asked her: "Gran, who is they?"

She replied: "The newspaper."

My sister gleefully informed her that I had been the author of those weather stories and from then on she never quoted from my stories again.

It seems to be the norm for people to take a close interest in the weather and not just because they want to know whether or not to wear a jumper, but we seem to be programmed to be that little bit happier if the sun is shining and the temperature is warm.

You look around you on the bus or in the car next to you when it is rainy and cold in the dead of winter - all you will see is miserable faces. Go for a walk on a nice warm summer day and all you will see is happiness and good will.

Maybe that is why people love living in Hawke's Bay. There is something to be said about waking up to blue skies. Coming from Auckland, I should know.

The irony in all this is that I am writing this from Auckland, where I am visiting for the weekend, and as I look out of the window, all I can see is ... blue sky.