Coney Island's Sundial
One of the best things about summer in New York is going to the beach! More than anything, I love going to Coney Island — I can play in the sand and ocean all day, and then go on the rides! My Mom doesn't let me wear my watch to the beach, because it'll get wet and might get lost. But, I still want to know what time it is, to see how much time I have left on the beach. So, I found a way to tell time without a watch! Here's what I do:
Because I've been to Coney Island many times, I know where, in the sky, the sun is around 6 p.m. (dinnertime), and even without a compass, I know which way is east (straight down the Boardwalk, past Astroland). So I use 6 a.m. as the time for sunrise — due east — and use dinnertime for west. I draw a BIG circle in the sand with my hands, and I draw the line between east and west for the circle's diameter (180 degrees). I draw a second line to break up the half circle into two 90-degree angles. And then I draw two more lines — dividing each 90-degree angle into two at 45 degrees. Finally, I draw 3 more lines in each 45-degree section. Each one of these lines is like one of the hour lines on a sundial, going from 6 am to 6 pm.
All I have to do when I'm playing in the surf or sand is look up to see how the sun lines up against the lines of my sand-sundial. And believe it or not, I've been right within ten minutes! It's fun to not need a watch to tell time, and to play make-believe by imagining myself back in the time of explorers and pirates, without any technology.
