Beautiful Gee Borrowing Mei-An's Umbrella!

UK: Family Event – Partial Eclipse in South London! (12.8.2026)

In 1999 – the year of the last partial-eclipse in the UK – I think it happened about 10am in the morning and got really dark (or at least dusky). Today, the birds became quiet as the sun shrank and the shadows slowly lengthened. This all happened over a 50 minute time period between 18:10hrs-19:00hrs. We even had a cup of tea and ate a cake whilst sat in the garden! Even one of our cats knew something unusual was happening. Of course, we were not sure how dark it would get – as in Central Europe the sky went completely dark.

Timeline and reconstruction of summer solstice celebrations as they might have appeared at Bulford 5000 years ago © Wessex Archaeology

UK: Strange Stories from England – Proto-Stone Henge Dsicovered! (19.6.2026)

“The discovery at Bulford is fundamental because it’s the earliest example of people building things here that aim directly at the solstice. When we talk about the solstice, we’re talking about religion. About how prehistoric peoples understood the cosmos, the world, and their place in it. What we see at Bulford, and later at Stonehenge, is a way of celebrating and marking the passage of time, but it’s also about making sure the world keeps working as it should. It’s likely their way of saying to their deities, please keep us in mind, keep us warm and safe. It’s a religious event. That’s why it’s so important.”