After a search through all the drawers in a bureau that contain trash, treasure and vital info along with out-of-date lip salve and dubious electronics, I found it – my piece of welder-standard glass!
Like many of my age – my first memorable eclipse was in 1999. I remember all the garages had stocks of eclipse glasses, and I think some were given free with some newspapers. My then-partner and I had taken an old gentleman to Rookwood Hospital in Cardiff for an appointment, so we – with lots of hospital workers watched it from the hospital grounds. It wasn’t total, but it was impressive and felt like a real occasion. The media attention around it was massive and “Ian Beale” was apparently down the West Country for it, on an episode of East Enders,
The background to the next one I remember was sometime around 2010 perhaps the 2008 one… There were no glasses around this time, but a man I was seeing at the time – a gentle, kinky Scotsman and perfect gentleman – suggested welder-standard glass. And we found some from a unit on the local trading estate.
I don’t remember watching the eclipse with him, but have a memory of going into my street on my own with my bit of glass and sharing it with a school-age boy of one of my neighbours and also with a young man who I think had learning disabilities. May have been that eclipse or the next one.
My most impressive viewing was a total eclipse in the North Carolina town of Murphy in the USA in 2017 – and I have two t-shirts to prove it! It was spectacular. It was a crazy hot day, and the daylight didn’t disappear, but became dusk and was seriously spooky. It was something my lovely friend-with-benefits D had always wanted to see, so we did – along with a trip through Cherokee, Shenandoah and the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia!
This week, having located the piece of glass I went out around the back of my house to witness the eclipse as it was drawing to its extreme of a sliver. I saw neighbours from the next street with bits of paper and colanders so approached them with my bit of glass. Once the kids had had a look everyone else did too. And then I then went around the corner to share with a near-neighbour and friend and once again shared with a group who were also out – including a woman looking through two pairs of sunglasses! I guess there are always people who don’t take warnings seriously, or full understand…
I loved my first view of this amazing sight, but it was fun having a communal experience as well.
The Spinster's Exploits 
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