Total eclipse of the solar
eclipse...with clouds
20.03.15
by Linda McGrory
BONNIE Tyler in the hit song 'Total Eclipse of the
Heart' sang: "Turnaround, every now and then I get a
little bit lonely that you're never coming round".
That's how it was in Inishowen as we feared the
much-hyped solar eclipse would 'never come round'.
We turned around. We looked north, south and west –
even though we know the sun rises in the east.
We wanted what uber-excited astronomers described
would be a veritable feast for suitably-protected
eyes. We would see the sun being eaten by the moon.
I had visions of Pac-Man in the Donegal skies.
And there was also the prospect of the sun with a
nice, if fleeting, smile.
The very loud birdsong in
Greencastle, Inishowen, during the solar eclipse of
March 2015. Everything seemed bathed in black and
white during the two-hour phenomenon.
It would, after all, be
another eleven years until we would see its like
again. ELEVEN years.
Timeline to the solar eclipse in Greencastle:
7.30am: The breakfast is eaten early; the cereal box
lies in shreds as a safe viewing card with a pinhole
is made.
7.40am: Daisy, the neighbourhood feral cat - she's
called Sooty next door - enjoys being fed early. But
she seems a bit agitated - didn't the wildlife
people say the animals would act weird?
7.45am: I might as well put out extra bird seed - in
case the resident robin, the goldfinches and those
ninja brown ones that blend in with the wet leaves,
need a feed before going off to act all weird in the
darkness of the eclipse.
8.30am: People in Cork will be getting a good look
at the eclipse now. Better take a look, in case it
comes earlier than the predicted 9.22am here. Very
cloudy - but I'm sure it'll lift. It has to - we
won't see its like again for eleven years. ELEVEN
years.
9.00am: It's definitely darker. And chillier. Better
put on a fleece. Daisy, stop eating the bird seed!
You see...weird animal behaviour.
9.10am: Still very cloudy...I'm sure it'll lift.
9.15am: The birds sound stranger than usual. They're
singing very loudly - do I hear the two resident
magpies communing with an owl...definitely think so.
9.16am: I hear some builders hammering on a new roof
nearby...how can you not down tools when the rarest
of rare phenomenon is about to
happen...any...minute...now?
9.20am: Smartphone at the ready, check; regular
camera at the ready, check; cereal box cut-out,
check; colander hat, check; crazy cat, check.
9.22am: It's much darker, colder, eerier and, with
the birds and the builders happily hammering
away...louder.
9.30am: Sadly, no Pac-Man moment and no solar
smiles. But at least we can boast that other Irish
astronomical phenomenon…a total eclipse of the solar
eclipse, with clouds. Now, where will I put those
cornflakes?
