Encounters – Under the Darkened Sun

This Wednesday almost passed me by like any other. Work, appointments, things that had to be done. I had barely noticed that a solar eclipse was coming. It was Stefan who pointed it out to me.

So we got into the car and drove out of town. About half an hour away, there is a hill we know from many of our hiking trips. From the top, you have a wide view across the landscape, and we thought we had found the perfect place.

Or so we thought.

The road leading up to it was already packed with cars. Vehicle after vehicle lined the roadside, and every free spot was taken. Eventually, there was nowhere left to go. No parking space, no room to turn around. We had no choice but to reverse back down the narrow road and keep looking.

A few kilometres farther on, we finally found our place, surrounded by fields.

A grain field lay bright in the afternoon sun. Short stubble covered the ground, and above it stretched a wide-open sky. We unfolded our camping chairs and joined the others. All around us, people sat on picnic blankets or folding chairs they had brought with them. Families, couples, young and old, some with cameras, others simply holding their eclipse glasses.

It felt a little like a village festival. Only there was no music, no stalls and no programme. Everyone was waiting for the same spectacle in the sky.

Luckily, we had managed to get two pairs of protective glasses at short notice. Through the dark lenses, the sun suddenly looked small and strange. Then the moon slowly began to move in front of it.

It was the first solar eclipse I had ever seen.

Perhaps that was why I was struck not only by what was happening above us. I also found myself thinking about how many people, at that very moment, were doing exactly the same thing. Not only in our field, but in countless other places, people were looking up at the sky at the same time. For a few minutes, they were connected by something very simple: curiosity about a spectacle that no one had ordered or organised, and yet had drawn so many people outside.

There I was, sitting on a folding chair in a stubbled field, watching the moon darken the sun.

For a moment, nothing else mattered.

Perhaps it does not take a grand escape. Sometimes half an hour in the car is enough, along with a hill you cannot reach and a place in a freshly cut field. And suddenly, above an ordinary Wednesday, the sky opens up and reminds you that beyond the routines of everyday life, so much more is happening.

The cover photo was taken by Stefan: https://www.ganjingworld.com/s/4z2gmV8WZX

B.