I had been looking forward to the 1999 eclipse for many years, ever since I heard about it some time in the 1950s. I used to write the date at the end of my diary every year and transfer it to the next diary every January, so as not to miss it. When the time came I found a spot in a field on the south coast in plenty of time. Gradually the field filled with people, and when the eclipse happened they all took out their cameras and the field was filled with the camera flashes as they tried to photograph it (as if those flashes would light up the sun ...). The moment was ruined. I could have cried.
|