total eclipse of the sun.

When the mooon is in the second ha-ouse.. and Ju-pi-ter aliiiiiigns with… something.(1)

11 August 1999 – my first, and thus far only time in proximity for a total eclipse.  

In Brussels with my mother, a human who tends toward hysterics – and believes everyone else to be a moron.. Insisting we abscond to the subway, so that we would not burn our retinas. Missing the concept of totality for a total eclipse, and that special glasses were readily available, and being sold throughout the city.. But do we buy a couple pairs? Nope. Just hysterics and running. You'd believe she expected the Blitz. 

Fourteen years and some change later. 

A hybrid solar eclipse decides to waltz across Equatorial Africa. 

Here I am living just north of the Tropic of Capricorn(2) and juusssst too far south on the continent to see a full solar eclipse…

I concede to some bitterness. 

⁽¹⁾ Likely amongst the least strange among Cotton's medleys for *Fantacular* ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ (Bonnie Tyler) to ‘Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In’ (The 5^th Dimension). iykyk..

(2) And now I’m thinking of library fees.