Saturated

Drizzle, a chill breeze and a moleskin sky - and in April, too. Enough to lower the spirits of the most determined optimist.

Time for a therapeutic visit to Coventry Cathedral where, no matter how dull the weather outside, the great Baptistry window may be relied on to create a soul-charging whoosh of light, colour and glory.

Each pane of John Piper's composition is an exquisite abstract composition in its own right.

The colours are intensely rich, each pane luscious in itself, yet contributing to the totality of the work. Unity and diversity.

As a child I would ask my mother to take off her sapphire engagement ring. I would then hold the stone up to the light and squint through it, drinking in its deep, intense and almost overwhelming blueness.

I can still recall the faint, yearning ache behind the solar plexus that the experience induced.