Total Solar eclipse 2009 in China

In 2009 we visited China with on a trip with the Vereniging Voor Sterrenkunde (VVS), with the purpose to observe the total solar eclipse on July 22.  Sadly, the weather a big bummer and we got a real rain shower over us during totality...

It is only 4:30 in the morning when the phone rings for the first time.  A feeling of nervousness clings to my stomach. Only when we are washed and dressed, I dare to open the curtains.  And it is... cloudy.  Even before the agreed time, everyone has taken a seat on the bus.  Let's drive!

When I arrived at the observation site, my heart sank: it was raining.  When our breakfast was finished and the first contact had passed, we could see the partially eclipsed sun through the clouds.  We cherished hope and Jan counted down the minutes to totality.  Toads crawled away, all the dragonflies disappeared and ducks staggered to their nests. A mysterious atmosphere descended on the observation site.  Just before the second contact, the sky became fully clouded out, but Jan continued to count down. Fans were brought out, the gods were worshiped, dances were performed, but nothing helped. Jan gave the signal, the light went out and the rain started pouring down.  The tears followed.  The fireworks to drive away the evil spirits, which we had noticed just before, had not helped.  The world fell silent. We stood there for six minutes, in the rain, without a coat or umbrella.  The light returned abruptly and we knew we had missed our chance.  Céline hastily brought us a piece of plastic to stay dry.  We walked with all our (soaked) things to the shelter, where almost everyone had gathered and we could share our disappointment and admiration with each other.  The VRT kept on filming...  Everyone thought it was a pity that we had not seen the corona, but the eclipse had been magical: total darkness, lashing rain, thunder and lightning ... In earlier times one must have thought that the end of the world had come.

The guides were getting nervous: they wanted us to come in to eat and we wanted to stay outside to experience the whole eclipse, even though we didn't see anything. Our bottle of osmanthus wine was distributed among the persistent people. We had gambled and lost: statistically we had the best odds, but we had not seen what we had actually come for ...