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| Credit: Luc Viatour |
I wouldn´t call the recent solar eclipse a nothing-burger, but it wasn´t as dramatic as the one on August 11, 1999.
That was apparently the most-viewed such event in human history, since it moved over large parts of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. I saw it from an undisclosed location in Central Europe (hence not from Sweden). It was quite dramatic, despite not being total at the place where I was staying. The sunlight became dimmer and weird, the temperature dropped from hot summer to almost cold in a matter of minutes, and all birds stopped singing, giving rise to an eerie silence. Then, everything went back to normal again!
Thousands of people had congregated around Lake Balaton in Hungary, a popular tourist destination, where the eclipse was total. This included large contingents of Neo-Pagans who supposedly went there to "worship the sun". Ahem, the sun is eclipsed, asshats! A lot of revellers had joined the crowds, as well. The distinction between them and the "spiritual" people wasn´t clear. (Compare Stonehenge at Midsummer.) Several TV networks transmitted live from Balaton. It did look very, very weird when all of a sudden, everything went almost pitch dark!
So what happened here in Sweden earlier this evening? First, only a few people came out to watch the eclipse in my neighborhood. Were the rest looking at it from indoors? The sunlight did change from normal to dim in a matter of seconds, but the temperature drop didn´t feel as dramatic as in Central Europe back in 1999, and some crows were still cawing! On the other hand, I didn´t see any birds actually flying around, and the local cat was sitting still in the middle of a pedestrian walk. The ending wasn´t very dramatic either, since the partial eclipse happened just before sunset.
And for some reason, my right eye still hurts...
That was that, I suppose.
