Eclipse

Yesterday we saw the sun set at the beach near Zandvoort. We were there because of the 89% or so solar eclipse that peaked around eight in the evening. Well in time we walked onto the beach to set up our lightweight chairs and through our eclipse ‘glasses’ looked due west where the sun was beginning to set. The view over the sea was fantastic. At the peak of this eclipse I did feel the reduced sun power, and the chill it brought. It gives a sense of the tremendous power of the sun that even with a 89% eclipse there is still so much light. It was beautiful, even if 89% is not by far as impressive as a total eclipse. Back in 1999, on 11 August, so 27 years and one single day before this one, we woke up in our tent in Southern Germany in light rain and with 100% cloud cover. E drove us on the Autobahn towards Stuttgart, to find a spot where the cloud cover was open enough, while I was looking out of the sunroof of our tiny rented first generation Twingo to see whether the eclipse had…