I took a rare day off for the big day in 2024, the total solar eclipse. Amy had the day off as normal, and thankfully didn’t get called in last minute.
Based on all the hyped up “states of emergency” some communities were declaring, we thought it would be a madhouse on the roads, but it was exceptionally quiet, what I expect is just normal road traffic up and down the 401.
We took the opportunity to stop in and bug mom as it was the day after her birthday, and she seems well. Still worry about her as I always do, but she keeps herself busy.
We spent the rest of the day at Fort Henry for a big “free” event attended by a few hundred others, hosted by Bill Welychka of MuchMusic fame (fame in my memory anyway) and Bob McDonald, the host of Quirks and Quarks on CBC. He was definitely the highlight speaker of the day, with an added bonus of coming back to Amy sitting at the table, Bob McDonald himself speaking right there as I plunk down the book he authored in front of Amy, very good timing.
The eclipse itself was amazing and the atmosphere with the people around us was infectious and excited. We used solar protective glasses for an hour leading up to the main event, and in the last few minutes as the coverage became closer to full, it got darker and colder, and then in the last minute or so it very quickly became very dark as shadow covered us all. Totality occurred around 3:22pm and that was easily one of the most breathtaking celestial experiences I’ve seen. the 3 minutes of totality getting to look up with my own eyes and see the glow of the sun around the moon perfectly covering it in a virtual night sky was mesmerizing. Looking around at the horizon during totality appeared as a sunrise at all angles. Then as quickly as it came, it went, with the sun exploding back into view with the “diamond ring” that everybody raves for, and the glasses had to go back on.
Amy had her fill and was getting cold and tired, so we headed out right after totality, which seems to have been the thoughts of everyone else as the gates were packed heading out. Kingston roads were very un-busy, with everyone either still at work, or downtown enjoying the remaining hour or so of sun coverage before the entire eclipse was over.
With any luck I’ll see another one in my lifetime, but definitely not in this area – the next solar eclipse to touch Ontario won’t be until 2144!