Thursday, I decided it was time to do something about eclipse glasses. I’d missed the free ones, and stores had run out of them, too. I’ve been busy editing books and doing yard work needed before my fence is repaired and stained.
I went to Amazon, picked some out, and paid $18 for next day shipping. The cost was $99.95 for a package of five ISO approved eclipse glasses.
I thought surely they’d arrive by Monday, the big eclipse day.
No so. I worried about having to deal with some obscure company connected to Amazon. When I returned a radio I’d purchased, it was entirely battery operated with no option to plug it in, I had trouble with the firm returning my money, even after I paid for the postage to return it. A complaint to Amazon got me the refund.
Then I read that another solar eclipse is coming up in a couple of years. Should I keep the eclipse glasses? The totality would be in the southern part of the United States. The chances of me traveling that far are slim to none.
Then I received another email from Amazon. The new arrival of the eclipse sunglasses would be August 28. I was still pondering what to do.
When I was writing this article, I went back and read the email more carefully. It said I could cancel my order. I hit the Cancel button. Decision made. I picked from the reasons listed: “Wouldn’t arrive in time.”
I did enjoy the solar eclipse. I was surprised my neighbors and I could see it from our street in the often cloudy Seattle area. I looked through the neighbor’s homemade pinhole box. Fascinating. As totality approached, my cell phone rang. It was a manager calling me back about a consumer complaint. I went in the house to try to get the issue resolved.
When I came back out, another neighbor had joined our group. She had a free pair of eclipse sunglasses her realtor had given her. We all looked through them. She was done watching, so she gave me the glasses. She said since I cared about it enough to spend $100, I could have them.
I watched off and on until the moon moved away from its spot in front of the sun, glad I’d gotten some eclipse sunglasses after all.
