Skywatching
So my eclipse diary goes a little like this:
(1) February. Find the Faroes Islands are completely full already.
(2) Thursday afternoon. Go round town, establish that I cannot buy eclipse glasses for love nor money.
(3) Thursday night. Hunt all around the house for an hour, and finally find my eclipse glasses, bought in 1999, and last used to watch the transit of Venus in 2004.
(4) Friday morning. Cambridge skies are completely overcast. Feel vaguely guilty that this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't found my eclipse glasses. It gets noticeably gloomy for a while, but that's about it. At least some of the UK has clear skies. An hour after the eclipse finishes, so does Cambridge. I go outside and use my eclipse glasses to verify this, because otherwise the hunt for them was a waste.
(5) Friday evening. Start the long task of persuading Anne to go to the US in August 2017.
(6) Sunday evening, just now. We have a clear, deep blue sky, with a crescent moon, the "old moon in the new moon's arms", and a brilliantly bright Venus. I am consoled.
(1) February. Find the Faroes Islands are completely full already.
(2) Thursday afternoon. Go round town, establish that I cannot buy eclipse glasses for love nor money.
(3) Thursday night. Hunt all around the house for an hour, and finally find my eclipse glasses, bought in 1999, and last used to watch the transit of Venus in 2004.
(4) Friday morning. Cambridge skies are completely overcast. Feel vaguely guilty that this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't found my eclipse glasses. It gets noticeably gloomy for a while, but that's about it. At least some of the UK has clear skies. An hour after the eclipse finishes, so does Cambridge. I go outside and use my eclipse glasses to verify this, because otherwise the hunt for them was a waste.
(5) Friday evening. Start the long task of persuading Anne to go to the US in August 2017.
(6) Sunday evening, just now. We have a clear, deep blue sky, with a crescent moon, the "old moon in the new moon's arms", and a brilliantly bright Venus. I am consoled.