A Complete Anticlimax

There was a total eclipse of the sun over parts of Europe on Wednesday August 12^th, 2026.  Totality was visible over a swathe of central Spain.

For the past ten days, Caroline and I have been staying in a cottage in Talais, a village in the Medoc region of France, 180 miles north of the Spanish border and we seriously considered driving 300 miles south to experience totality again.  But when we read that totality here would be close to 98%, our thoughts were something like:

·    We’ve seen it once before in 1999 and it was wonderful.

·      If it is cloudy, it could be a wasted 600 mile round-trip journey.

·      It would involve an overnight stay in Spain. 

·      98% is very close to 100%. We might as well stay here.

So, that is what we did.

We booked for dinner at an open air café in the Port de Talais and at 7:15 pm, we sat down at our table overlooking miles of flat marsh and woodland with absolutely nothing to spoil our view of the sun that was still beating down from a cloudless sky.  97.6% totality was expected at 8:24 pm.

The restaurant was packed and because everyone, many of them with specially bought lunettes spéciales éclipse, was frequently peering up at the sun, it was clear that the eclipse was on everyone’s minds.  

At 7:29 pm, the eclipse began.  Based on my experiences from 1999, I assured the English speaking people at the next table to us that without special glasses, nothing would seem any different for at least 45 minutes.  I also mentioned that it might all be a bit of an anticlimax.

My memory of the total eclipse 27 years ago, is that, about a minute before totality, I had noticed that the shadows of the leaves on the wall were shaped in crescents in exactly the same shape and proportions as the crescent of the visible sun.  Approximately 30 seconds before totality, all the hundreds of birds feeding on the ground in the field around us suddenly took off, squawking very loudly and we heard dogs barking.

At around 8:15, many of the diners, including us, left their tables and went out on to the scrub land to get an even better view of the sun.  As I expected, it all looked very much as it had an hour ago.  At 8:20, the restaurant turned on all their interior lights.

The birds carried on feeding from the mud at the side of the river; no dog barked and the shadows of the leaves of the mulberry tree on the white wall of an outhouse, never altered in their shape.

Forty people stood there like idiots, staring at a sun that had not seemed to have changed its appearance in any way whatsoever.  At 8:25, we all drifted back inside and carried on with our meals.  The lights were off.

This is us at 8:24, the moment that 97.6% of the sun was obscured.

“Maybe, it got a little darker?” Caroline said.

What a complete anticlimax!

*  I look more scruffy than usual because I had a procedure done on my face recently and I mustn't shave for 8 weeks.

It obviously was not cosmetic surgery!