So, I went cloud gazing just a few minutes ago. I climbed unto the roof of my house and lay down. I tried looking at the clouds right above me, but couldn’t. The clouds were out of focus and my eyes just kept squinting and then closing(I couldn’t control it). And if I forced them to stay open, everything became a blur and my eyes would water and start hurting. Now, the sky wasn’t that bright and the sun was quite a distance away from the part of the sky I was looking at. If I stood up and looked at the clouds above the horizon, I was fine.
I don’t get it. Is there something wrong with the clouds or is it me? I took some pictures of the clouds, but they’re just normal clouds. Nothing extraordinary. I can post them if need be.
I had an odd experience with clouds last week. I was in Albert Square, Manchester, sitting on the Albert Statue steps, directly in front of the town hall. The town hall is quite a spectacular tall building, with an even taller central tower. Sitting on the steps and looking up at the tower, from directly in front of it I was looking up at an angle of 45 degrees, maybe more. The wind was blowing briskly from behind me, and it was a part clouded day…the first following what seems like years of daily rain here. The fllufy white clouds were therefore going directly away from me, and disappearing over the top of the town hall.
Now I should have expected this, but it still surprised me. There was an optical illusion effect, in that if felt as if the town hall and its tower were falling towards me. Quite uncomfortable really.
This shows Manchester Town hall and in the foreground the statue where I was sitting.
Maybe you were tired… or had just woke up? (or need glasses ) but when i used to go out early in the morning I could never open my eyes fullt cos it hurt, even if the sky was full of clouds (but still bright) I would squint…
Try looking out the window just after you’ve got up in the morning and see if it hurts lol… without sunglasses!!
And I wear contacts. I don’t generally have problems with bright settings. It was more than an hour after I woke up. I went to the sea to have a swim, came back, checked unicyclist.com and then went on the roof. So, my eyes couldn’t be that sleepy.
And focusing on clear sky from my balcony also produces a similar feeling, but not that intense. And if I keep looking it goes away.
Reminded me of a line in the song Scarlet Begonias by the Grateful Dead;
“Wind in the willows playin tea for two; The sky was yellow and the sun was blue,
Strangers stoppin strangers just to shake their hand,
Everybodys playing in the heart of gold band, heart of gold band.”
I believe there was a supernova in that part of the sky earlier. Expect to have permanent eye damage as a result of forcing yourself to stare at it.
But seriously:
If Ivan has blue eyes I’m sure he’s used to them by now. I have had similar experiences. The sky isn’t super-bright, yet it seems too bright to look at. Not sure why. Remember, clouds can be a lot brighter than you think, and are lighter in color than the blueness of a cloudless sky. That probably has something to do with it. If you’re looking at something white, your eyes are taking in all the colors in the visible spectrum. That could have something to do with it.
But I think part of it is just sometimes your eyes seem to be more sensitive than others. When this happens to me I assume they are trying to tell me something, so I don’t force the issue. BTW my eyes are green.
I remember reading somewhere, I can’t remember where to check its validity, that why that happens sometimes is because, for a variety of reasons, there is more UV radiation coming through the atmosphere at certain times of the day. This can be caused by cycles of the sun, or the angle the sun is at related to you. White clouds don’t help the situation since they just deflect back at you more UV rays.
I have had this happen to me many times throughout my life, I know exactly what you’re talking about…
) but when i used to go out early in the morning I could never open my eyes fullt cos it hurt, even if the sky was full of clouds (but still bright) I would squint…
without sunglasses!!