Three days ago I checked at the right time and I realised the sun during the eclipse would be viewable from the front of my bungalow.  All I had to do was pray the drought wouldn't break (yet) so the sky wouldn't be full of clouds.

Between 6-30 and 7-30 we sat out there in camping chairs, and were joined by my neighbour and her grandson.  He was a bit shy about meeting a batch of strangers but we assured him he was welcome and found a stool for him to sit on.  He's autistic and although we didn't tell him we were all on the same wavelength, to varying degrees, I think he soon felt comfortable with us.

It was quiet fun and we had about 95% totality.

We all had the proper glasses to watch it safely.  My neighbour Linda had also made an old-school 'pinhole viewer' where you stand with your back to the sun, look through a different hole, and see the sun reflected on the inside of the box without all the glare. It looks like a very Heath-Robinson bodge, but it works.  Just as early 'pinhole' camera works.

Linda's daughter and her friends had also gone for the box bodge, seeing as they'd left it too late to get eclipse glasses and a group of them were stood on the common about six miles away.

There was some joking about the best kind and size of box.

Linda told her she could use a cat food box.

"We couldn't possibly do that, Mum.  We're Vegans."

It was a thoroughly enjoyable hour or so.  As I told my Grandaughter, "This is real science.  Not just a book or a video."

Seeing as I will be 130 years old when we next get to see a total eclipse in this part of the world the statistics are against me.  But, if I'm still around I'll turn out for it.

We also had fun seeing the birds get confused, fly up to roost, sing their evening song, and then come down again pecking away at the rock-hard ground looking for breakfast.

A 'darkish' kid from further up the road came along and politely asked what we were doing.  So we explained and invited him to have a look through the glasses, and the box, and he was fascinated.

"Wow!  That's really cool.  How often does this happen.?"  When we told him how long until the next one he was over the moon that he'd been willing to ask what we were doing.  We thought it was great that were still kids willing to ask questions.  That's what we used to do.

Gyppo

That IS fun, Gyppo. I had the opportunity to view a total eclipse in 2024, and it was amazing. When we were near totality, toads started croaking, crickets began chirping, even lighting bugs were doing their thing. The temperature dropped noticeably. People clapped or stared in silence. It was really cool.

I really can't understand those who 'just can't be bothered'.

We get more lunar eclipses, but the weather is usually against us for them.

This was just a magical coincidence of time and viewpoint.  It even coincided naturally with a visit from daughter and grandaughter, so no shuffling of schedules.

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We had cloud.  Heavy, horizon-to-horizon cloud.  I got one arguable projection through the holes of a colander, which sounded fun but didn't really do the business - holes may have been too large.  And I put the barn light on when I was feeding Leo.  Some birds settled on the telegraph wires rather earlier than normal.  All in all, though, a bit of a damp squib.

How come, when 96% of the sun was obscured at totality, light levels only dropped by (I'm guessing) about 25%?  I remember the 1986 one as being much more dramatic.

Jo:  I'm guessing it was because the sky was so utterly cloud free (here at least) this time around.  The one in 1999 was a morning eclipse, so the sunlight hadn't really 'got going'.

I was out delivering mail during that one, and there was definitely less light available than this time around.  More of a 'brown twilight'.

Memorable because blue ink handwriting on red envelopes, Birthday cards and similar, became invisible for a while.  Not just difficult to see but truly invisible.  (Like a conjuring trick.)  Black ink required more care than usual, but could still be read.  This sometimes happens under street lights as well.

I just slipped the 'blanks' into a side pocket on my pouch, there were only half a dozen or so, and delivered them later on the ride back to the office when I could read them.

It was a strange experience.

That is so awesome.
During the one here. It was not just cloudy, but raining. But it still got way darker there for a while.

I'm glad it was great skies for you.