On my way to the library yesterday, I had to charge headfirst down the sidewalk to keep from being knocked over. Roedd hi'n wintog. It was windy! Those blustering air currents would have put Hawaii's famous windy Nu'uanu Pali to shame. I didn't mind. It was fun.
At 2 a.m. we in Swansea lost an hour of sleep, and the time-gap between the UK and America returned to 6 hours. I don't even mind, though, because spring and warm weather is on its way!
To someone from a landlocked state, the seaside is a dream.
Swansea has quite the dog population. You see dogs on leashes, dogs heeling obediently beside their cycling owners, dogs eating ice cream with their owners and grossing out other people and their dogs.
At the end of the pier, Paige and I stopped at Verdi's for sundaes. We stared at the menu for at least ten minutes, envisioning different combinations of cream and chocolate flakes and syrups, but I settled on a strawberry sorbet with kiwi and fudge pieces, and Paige tried apple crumble and mint chocolate chip with cream.
After Verdi's we headed back. The tide had gone out, so we walked on the barriers that were submerged earlier. At the bus stop, Paige taught me how to make a daisy chain.
I really do like to be beside the sea.
It's strange seeing Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Globe Theater in real life. Up till now they only existed in other people's pictures and on the Internet. The architecture and impersonal bustle of London is as exciting as the first slap of crisp air before winter, but the cold might have numbed my sense of appreciation.
Yes, Big Ben is big, and he's golder than I imagined, like a glowing Smaug in the sunlight. Yes, I was surprised at how Roman-looking the Abbey is, with all the stone figures and intricate carving. But the unexpected and random things that happened might have been more memorable.
At the entrance to the Household Cavalry Museum all the tourists were pressing in and competing for a photo opportunity. I felt sorry for the horse on duty. It kept champing its golden bit, which probably tasted like nasty water fountain water. I was standing there pitying it and waiting for a turn, when I remembered I had packed an emergency apple in case I got hungry and was tempted to buy food.
It would have been the perfect consolation, but the policeman I asked said the beast was likely to be on a strict diet and that anyway the guard atop the horse might take my arm off with his sword if I tried.
That warning, plus the plaque on the wall telling about the danger of being kicked or bitten, made me quite nervous even to stand close.
Looking back, I think that I should have at least petted its nose. I was the only one it turned its head toward, but it wasn't about to bite me. I think it must have known about my apple.
Swansea is the wettest city in Britain (Wales Online). If it isn't gushing cold little rice-grain pellets, it's still spitting. Or it mists, so you breathe in the rain. Pluviophiles love it.
My housemates talked about the solar eclipse for days ahead of time. Estela bought certified solar viewers a month ago.
The night before the eclipse I thought I'd wake up to low, gray stratus clouds obscuring the sky. But Friday morning sun through my window burst me awake before my 7:30 a.m. alarm
All across the beach in front of the uni, students knotted in groups with phones and cardboard boxes at the ready. Even in this day and age, rare natural events are worth skipping class or missing having a lie-in.
Joy and I played the quiz game over Narnia books and Jane Austen protagnoists while we made our DIY sun projector and waited for the moment. The two-hour eclipse peaked at 9:28 a.m. The temperature dropped. All at once I realized that everything that was green earlier was now dusky gray. Way far out, sparkling madly at the lip of the horizon like a motorcycle engine in July, was the sea.
And the sun. The sky was hazy with pollution, but not a cloud to block the sun.
It was just a fingernail sliver of light like a crescent moon.
Photo courtesy of Paige Bowyer
Photo courtesy of Estela Summer
Swansea may be the rainy capital of the Britain but she's sunny when it counts.
Photo courtesy of Paige Bowyer
Apparently, Swansea is a great spot for solar panels: link).
Beach selfie courtesy of Paige Bowyer
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