♫Total Eclipse of the Heart♫

It had been a neck breaking 2 weeks as stargazers spent the time looking up to the skies and being treated to a whole host of cosmic and rare celestial events. I was very excited when the Lancaster University’s AuroraWatch UK issued its second highest alert for the sightings of the Aurora Borealis or commonly known as the Northern Lights. According to these boffins, the rare natural phenomenon might be visible in the sky as far south as the Midlands. Whoo …hoo. It was in my list of 100 things to see/do. I was in and out of the casa in the freezing cold from 10 pm checking the skies. Disappointingly, there was extensive cloud cover and also too much light pollution.  But still, incredible views were seen in Gloucestershire.  The Aurora Borealis was a natural light display caused by charged particles colliding in the Earth's atmosphere and seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemisphere. I guess a trip to one of the Scandinavian countries is in the card.

The Spring Equinox was regarded by astronomers as the start of spring and was when hours of daylight have lengthened enough to be equal to the hours of night. So all over the world, at this special moment, day and night were of equal length hence the word equinox which meant ‘equal night’. It was a turning point to the start of longer days as we headed towards summer. As the Vernal Equinox heralds the arrival of spring, it was a time of renewal in both nature and the home, so it was time for some spring-cleaning. Hopefully, it will also help to remove any old or negative energies accumulated over the dark, heavy winter months and preparing the way for the positive growing energy of spring and summer.

 

Then another phenomenon appeared , Supermoon or perigee moon, referring to the moment when the moon orbits at its closest to the Earth, making it look bigger than it normally does.  It was the nickname for the coincidence between either a full or a new moon. An increase in size of around 15 per cent was seen. Again the skies above our casa was blanketed by thick clouds.  The Supermoon occurred on the evening of Thursday, March 19th and the next day we all saw that extra-close new moon pass in front of the sun and caused Europe’s biggest solar eclipse for 16 years. According to timeanddatecom, there hadn’t been a solar eclipse on either a March or September equinox since 1662.

“Nothing there is beyond hope,

nothing that can be sworn impossible,

nothing wonderful, since Zeus,

father of the Olympians,

made night from midday,

hiding the light of the shining sun,

and sore fear came upon men.”

~Archilochus (c680-645BCE)~

When I left the house for work, the sun was already shining brightly in the sky. It was a beautiful morning as the big red ball of fire emerged bathing the skies around it with a soft orangey glow. It was so hard not to look at it. As soon as we arrived at work, AM and I headed to the Piazza to join the rest of the university community there. We walked past a large group by the Arts Centre under the guidance of the Astronomical Society. A few wispy clouds had appeared, drifting across the sky, and the red glow had disappeared. The lunar phenomenon was expected to start in the Midlands at around 8.45am, and peak about 45 minutes later, so everyone was hoping  of a break in the clouds by then. We sat by the steps watching both the sun and the live event televised on the big screen. There were quite a few Blue Peter style contraptions being used to look at the eclipse. I made a pin-hole and also looked through JW’s camera which had a filter on it.

Shortly before 9.30am, there was a definite eerie atmosphere descending across the Piazza. The light had definitely reduced and there was a chill in the air. The whole event only lasted minutes before things began to return to normality but what an amazing experience. The eclipse produced a 100-mile-wide “totality” shadow path that crossed the North Atlantic and covered only two land masses, the Faroe Islands between Scotland and Iceland and the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Coventry saw a 91 per cent eclipse, beginning at 8.26am, peaking at 9.31am and finishing at 10.41am. I’m so glad to have seen it because the next eclipse will be on 12th  August 2026.

You can’t help humming to Bonnie Tyler’s during the eclipse.

Turnaround, every now and then I get a little bit lonely
And you're never coming round
Turnaround, every now and then I get a little bit tired
Of listening to the sound of my tears
Turnaround, every now and then I get a little bit nervous

 

 
That the best of all the years have gone by
Turnaround, every now and then I get a little bit terrified
And then I see the look in your eyes
Turnaround bright eyes, but every now and then I fall apart
Turnaround bright eyes, every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you only hold me tight
We'll be holding on forever
And we'll only be making it right

'Cause we'll never be wrong together
We can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)
I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

I really need you tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
And there's nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart

Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart

Turnaround bright eyes, every now and then I fall apart
Turnaround bright eyes, every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight (And I need you now)
And I need you more than ever
And if you only hold me tight (And if you only)
We'll be holding on forever

And we'll only be making it right ('Cause we'll never be wrong)
'Cause we'll never be wrong together
We can take it to the end of the line

Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)
I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

I really need you tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
And there's nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart
A total eclipse of the heart
A total eclipse of the heart
Turn around bright eyes

~Bonnie Tyler ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart~

The photographs above were taken by Babe at our favourite playground. I hadn’t been there for ages because the weekend was taken by other projects and stuff. At this time of year, there was a great number of territorial disputes as pairs attempted to mate and establish themselves. The natives had paired up now and I’m so looking forward to see fluffy chicks when I’m there.

Then we got back to work for a session on “RDA in many metadata formats or RIMMF” conducted by WFP who’d attended a session on Linked Data organised by CILIP in London. In comparison to MARC this looked fantastic but RIMMF wasn’t a tool for cataloguing but a tool for training and visualising RDA. WFP demonstrated the ways fields were pre-populated with content, media and carrier depending on the template chosen. The drop-down menus that appeared each time a field was typed into enabling to select the text that had already been entered into the dataset was helpful. For each new authorised access points included, a link to the relevant section in the RDA was added and, unlike MARC, could generate effective retrieval based on the relationships between works. It looked very promising and I really needed to find the time to test it out.

At the weekend, after months of planning HR and I finally had our outing in the city centre. We’d planned this since last September but just couldn’t synchronise our diaries. Both of us were very busy women :-). It was also a post-birthday treat. I was in town early because I’d a few errands to run. I purchased a new battery for my watch, used the Holland and Barrett voucher and popped into the market for a wreath base. We met  at Cheylesmore Manor House which was having an open day after refurbishment and restoration works.

Located in a large stone flagged courtyard through an alleyway and squirreled away behind sixties concrete, it was the home of Coventry’s Register Office since 1965. It was thought to had been built for the Earl of Arundel in 1237. By 1320, the magnificent timber building belonged to Queen Isabella, the she-wolf of France, and wife of Edward II and in 1338 was passed to her grandson, Edward the Black Prince.  Edward was known as the Black Prince due to the black armour that he wore. The manor was described as ‘somewhat in ruin’ in the 16th century and suffered from Coventry’s lack of royal support in the Civil war period.

The beautiful Grade 2 listed building today with its distinct Tudor character was only the gatehouse and two parts of two cross wings to the original manor house. It was divided into 3 rooms called the Black Prince Room, the Manor Room and Statutory Register Office Ceremony Room. The Black Prince Room retained a wealth of original features with an impressive stone fireplace and medieval chandeliers. When we were there, we were very lucky to have witnessed a mock medieval wedding in this room. The building used to be the only unfortified royal palace outside London. The Register Office, held all the original birth, marriage and death registers from 1837 to the present day, was the oldest building in the country to hold these function.

Then a slow walk to the latest development in Coventry called Fargo Village, a new shopping, event and arts centre in Far Gosford Street.  Billed as “the destination for independent shopping and creative arts “ it was inspired by Camden Lock in London and just a stone’s throw away from the lovely timber-framed buildings on the main street that had been restored and brought back to use.  The village itself was a collection of refurbished buildings, a large event/market hall, and a fascinating lane of steel shipping containers, converted into  independent stores, speciality small shops and foodie businesses. The eclectic mix ranges from jewellery, video games to shabby-chic furniture, even a Lambretta scooter dealer and workshop.

The main courtyard was decorated with urban art and graffiti. An iconic sculpture of the Loch Ness Monster which was the centre piece of the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow caught my attention. The Speyside sculptor, Stuart Murdoch, made the 3 metre high and 9 metre long sculpture from Caithness stone, Scots Elm, grey stone from the north east of Scotland and Clashach Sandstone from Moray with a bench incorporated onto the back of the mythical beast. Known across the globe as the Loch Ness Monster, the creature was also referred to by its Gaelic name “Each Uisge” or water horse. Parts of the sculpture were inscribed in Ogham Script, which was known as the alphabet of the Pictish people.

We checked out the market area as it was holding a vintage fair where shoppers were able to take advantage of about 30 stalls selling affordable clothing dated from the 1940’s to 1990’s, with accessories, collectibles, furniture and jewellery all on offer. There were also re-worked and handmade stalls all hand-picked by Judy’s Affordable Vintage fair which had been hailed by the national press as a ‘shopping phenomenon’. We’d a wonderful time perusing all the different stalls and I walked home with a Vintage Easter decoration while HR bought a lovely brooch. It was lovely seeing the stall holders dressed in vintage clothing and there were even some shoppers who dressed up to suit the occasion.

“It was easily overlooked that what is now called vintage was once brand new”

~Tony Visconti~

All this walking and window-shopping made us hungry. Unfortunately, everywhere was packed and we were too famish to queue. So we walked back into town and I suggested lunch at a newly opened KoCo Cafe whose proprietors were Malaysian. I introduced HR and myself to the couple and I’d a lovely, quick chat before we sat down. The menu was written on the wall and I explained to HR what they were. I ordered nasi lemak and ayam masak merah with sambal goreng petai . It was simply out of this world to have the last dish here in Coventry.  HR had nasi goreng kampung with chicken khurma. All were authentic Malay food. This was the first time HR had eaten Malay food and she seemed to enjoy it. We washed all this with tall glasses of cold lime juice with lychee. It was delicious. I also bought a takeaway for Babe to try which he enjoyed very much.

The Cafe was very small and very busy. The customers were mostly South-East Asian students (Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand) and from the Muslim countries because they served halal food. I think they had found a new niche here in Coventry. They needed to publicise it more and have a bigger premise. Unfortunately, the Cafe won’t be here much longer because the Cathedral Lanes will be renovated again to accommodate  big high streets restaurants like Wagamama and Las Iguanas. Although I’m looking forward to Wagamama, I hoped KoCo cafe will able to find another premise and wherever they go, I’ll always patronise it.

Later, Babe and I made a pit stop at Ashlawn Cuttings to see what the frogs had been up to. The volunteers had done a lot of work in clearing the reserve but during the nesting season??? We checked out Ashlawn Pool and found out that the frogs had already left leaving their spawn to develop. Spawn and tadpoles needed lots of light and warmth to develop properly and there were plenty here. We continued on walking towards the Pytchley Road Bridge being serenaded by bird-songs. It was a shame that the path here was strewn with rubbish as it was surrounded by a housing estate. And then we’d to walk along a very flooded path where we came across Reservoir pond which was full of marsh marigold, Bull rushes and carpets and carpets of frog spawn. Just wow!!! Imagine the activities and the croaking during the mating season. We will definitely check this place again.

“Across the road, tadpoles are dancing on the quarter thumbnail of the moon. They can’t see, not yet.”

~James Wright~

We also checked out Draycote Water and it was surprisingly quiet. There was only a few yachts in the water and I think because there was a lack of wind. The fishing season was back and there were a few people signed up to learn how to fish. There were plenty of opportunities for the novice to take up fly fishing or the intermediate looking to improve their casting and overall fishing skills here. The reservoir with its varying depths offer a variety of fishing skills from the bank or the boat. I don’t think I’ve the patience and I do get sea sick if the boat was not moving. I guess I preferred to be on dry land and photograph them fishing, instead.

We continued on towards Farborough Spit keeping an eye on the lake. Noisy Gulls were practicing their fishing skills with varying degrees of success with their harsh calls echoing around us.  Coots were being territorial swimming menacingly towards any intruders in their path. When they took off from the water, they looked like they were running along the surface. But what caught our attention was seeing a Great Crested Grebe diving underwater. The water was so clear that we could see it fishing. It was an amazing sight.

Pirate-eyed,

Dragon-ruffed,

Lion-maned,

Pharaoh-masked:

I am water Gypsy –

Diver of the

Deep Truth Lakes.

~Water gypsy @beeseeker.wordpress.com~

 

We also came across dozens of Little Grebes or dabchicks bobbing up and down in the lake. From time to time, a distinctive whinnying trill could be heard. They were beginning to develop the bright chestnut throat and cheeks for the breeding season. We scanned the water carefully and finally spotted the Black-Necked Grebe. It was lovely seeing this grebe again with its dusky grey neck and beautiful golden tufts of feathers on its face. And the eyes, the striking Dracula red eyes. They were very rare nesting birds in the UK and were mainly passage migrants from Russia. They were almost flightless for around 9 months of the year, the longest period of any flying bird. A bit of a contradiction since they managed mammoth migrations to and from their breeding grounds each year.

As it swam further away from us, we decided to turn back and walked back to the car. The delightful Pied wagtails were frantically wagging their tails up and down while dashing about between rocks in search of food. They frequently called during their undulating flights. When we got closer to the visitor centre, someone waved at us and it was Mrs Greenman. She’d just completed the 6 miles walk around the reservoir while hubby was stuck in the bird hide. We’d done the walk only once and it nearly killed Babe so we’d not done it since. While we were talking, a wren popped up to say hello and goodbye, before disappearing in between the rocks to hunt for food.

Twice a year the country goes through the panic of resetting its timepiece as the clock jumps forwards (and backwards) by an hour. This year the clocks sprung forward, signalling the start of the British summertime (BST) on 29th March. Sometimes also known as Daylight Saving Time (DST), it signalled longer and hopefully sunnier days and warmer temperatures.  It was a longed-for signal that the gloom and doom of winter was on its way out. Debate over the effects of turning the clocks back (and forth) had been a British pastime for more than a century, when the first DS Bill was brought before the House of Commons. Plans had been mooted to move to Central European Time which meant lighter winter evenings which claimed cut road deaths, boost tourism and reduce energy use. Unfortunately the proposals faced strong opposition from the Scots who don’t relish the extra hour of darkness in the morning. To me, this was one of the quirkiness of British life.

At home, the hedgehogs had woken up from their hibernation and was seen puttering about in the garden. I’ve put mashed dog food mixed with mealworms out but hadn’t taken any videos or photograph them yet. It was still too cold to leave the patio doors open. I’m so please to see them back again. Apart from them, the Goldfinches were back at the feeder too. Whoop…whoop. In the early mornings, I am often awakened by their delightful liquid twittering. My very own personal natural alarm clock. It was so hard not to have a little peep to see these very highly coloured finches with their blood red ‘face’, the black and white head and the signature lemon-yellow wing patch. The red around the beak allowed Christian Europe to entwine the bird’s story with the passion. Goldfinches were said to have their faces dipped in Jesus blood as they tried to pull those thorns out of his crown.

“Sometimes goldfinches one by one will drop
From low hung branches; little space they stop;
But sip, and twitter, and their feathers sleek;
Then off at once, as in a wanton freak:
Or perhaps, to show their black, and golden wings
Pausing upon their yellow flutterings.”
~John Keats~

They have been flying in often and I think a pair was nesting in a fir tree overlooking our garden. Ooh… I’m so excited because they might bring the juveniles to feed here. One thing, I noticed were they were not restful birds. When they were feeding, they will continually look around checking for threats and the same ‘conversational’ twittering goes on as they fed together. According to Garden Birdwatch “Improved foods and feeder designs, coupled with feeding pressures in the wider countryside, appear to be driving (the rise of the Goldfinch) and other farmland species … into gardens.” And I think anyone who has a feeder in their garden will always welcome a Goldfinch. One to know a secret? Put nyjer seeds out and they will definitely come flying.