Eclipse

Many of you will have witnessed some sort of eclipse of the sun today. Sadly no such event occurred here in Tanzania where the sun remained bright and full, whilst baking down upon us. 

The moon was I assume somewhere up there in the blue, near to but not over the shining sun.

I have been lucky enough to witness a total eclipse back in 1999 whilst on holiday in Brittany. We made the long trip up to Cherbourg in Normandy to watch the eclipse together with many who had sailed across the sea from Britain, including my parents.

  



It was a cloudy day and the cloud was seemingly impenetrable but as totally approached the world got suddenly dark, as if it were night. The lights in the harbour came on and the seagulls screeched. Then in the dark the clouds parted, just enough to give us a fleeting glimpse (no photo). Totality lasted but a few minutes and then like someone switching on a light it grew bright (even though most of the sun was still covered).

That was my one and only total eclipse in almost 50 years on this planet. The next visible here in Tanzania will occur on September 1st 2016 (partial).  If I’m still here (as I hope to be) it’s a definite watch!

If you saw the eclipse I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂