This morning I awoke to a particularly bright and sunny morning. Today was an auspicious day with the Spring Equinox coinciding with a partial Solar Eclipse. The sun was diffused by clouds giving it a pale yellow glow but the moon however was nowhere to be seen. The absence of the illusive moon led me to notice  ’my oak tree’ catching the morning sunlight so I took a photo.

I made my way to work and soon after I arrived the daylight dimmed and briefly took on a strange greenish tinge. After this brief interlude the light returned to the more sunny outlook that it had been on my short walk to the office. As to the Eclipse, a small sliver of moon was reported to have passed in front of the sun.

I was reminded of the Solar Eclipse of 11th August 1999. At the time I was working on the third floor of a building that had building wide glass windows. From my desk I was able to watch the sun and moon travelling towards each other. As the time of the eclipse approached I went outside to witness the eerie experience of totality as the moon passes in front of the sun causing the sun’s light to momentarily be erased from the sky.

New Scientist provides us with some interesting snippets regarding today’s partial eclipse.

It’s the first one since 1662 to coincide with the spring equinox. Another unusual feature is that it will beat a path over the Arctic, ending at the North Pole. A further coincidence is that the eclipse will come just a day after a lunar perigee, a point in the moon’s elliptical orbit when it swings closest to Earth and so appears larger than usual.

Coincidentally, a huge solar storm erupted on Tuesday this week and this could affect the eclipse. Researchers in Potsdam, Germany, will be watching closely to see if flares from the storm disrupt the geomagnetic signature of the eclipse, and checking the impact of the eclipse on space weather. There could, with luck, also be an aurora borealis at the same time, although such a coincidence has never been documented before. Eclipses also have a weird effect on gravity .

Footage from BBC News

I spent New Years Eve in a local Cantonese restaurant and then watched ‘Jools Annual Hootenany‘ with a glass of bubbly to see in the New Year. I couldn’t resist trying to take a few photos of the show. I have spent a lazy day reading and playing board games and now I am looking forward to roast duck for dinner. Tomorrow I go back to work and I am not really ready…

For those who are wondering, an electrician did turn up yesterday morning to look at my flickering lights. He asked what the problem was, watched the lights flickering and declared it was a loose connection in the fuse box. He went on to say that unfortunately he wasn’t allowed to touch the fuse box and he would have to phone one of his colleagues and ask him to visit later in the day.

The second electrician did turn up. He asked what the problem was, watched the lights flickering and said, ‘I don’t think it is a fuse box problem’. After trying a few of the light switches and the fan in the en-suite he decided it was a problem with the light fitting in the en-suite. When he investigated he found that the ceiling fan fed off the wiring to the light fitting and that it had become loose. Instead off putting the old light fitting back up, he very kindly put the new one up instead. The new light fitting had been put to one side for when the decorator came. So now all the electrics are fully functional again.