DaveF wrote:
Rupert Soskin wrote:
That's funny, just what kind of father are you?! :-)
One who has learned his lesson!
If you want to spend time appreciating the stones DON'T drag a 3 year old along ;-)
The year before we virtually had to drag him up the Tor, complete with pushchair. Never again.
I went to France in 1999 (was it?) to see the Eclipse. Could have gone to Cornwall but thought I'd stand a better chance in France. I got lucky and saw totality, it was amazing!
Anyway, there was a guy there, he was English and took his son, who was about seven, he wanted to share this once in a lifetime experiance with him.
I met him on the coach as we went to the viewing site, he was all hyped up! He'd spent hundereds to get there, he'd had time off work and everything, and like me, he gambled that southern France would have less cloud cover than Cornwall. "If we get to see the eclipse, he'll remember it for the rest of his life" the proud Dad told me. To be honest, it didn't look good, it was quite cloudy.
Anyway, we got to the eclipse site, by a lake, lovely. I found a nice spot with my girlfriend and we had a wonderful time watching the sun get swallowed by the hungry moon. Champagne corks popped all over the crowd as the clouds parted for a while and we saw the golden halo. and there is was! Totality! nature's greatest spectacle!
My girlfriend cried when she was totality, such is the eclipse experience.
After we saw the eclipse, I'd had a few beers, and was in a state of euphoria, I looked for the man and his son. . I saw him walking across the park. . I ran over .
"wasn't that amazing?" I said.
The guy had a look on his face like thunder. . "what's the matter?" I asked.
He explained how his son wanted an ice-cream just before totallity, and his dad said "we'll get one in a bit, but we can't miss this, keep looking at the sun, watch what's going to happen . . "
"No, I want an ice-cream. . "
"you can have all the ice-cream you want after, but we can't leave this spot. . "
But no, the kid wanted an ice-cream and, just before the clouds parted. . REFUSED to look at the eclipse, in a proper 'strop'. The Dad pleaded. . "please look up, it only lasts two minutes (in reality cloud cover meant we saw even less). . but no, the kid was in a mood, and bottom lip sticking out, gazed at the floor the whole time and missed the whole thing.
Kids eh? I bet the family still talk about it.
