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Oh and yes, rumbles at 1am!
Feb. 27th, 2008 11:13 pmThere I was, downstairs but dressed for bed, at 1am this morning, rooting in a box of paperwork for, of all things, a piece of paper with my pension forecast figures on it when... a huge, strong, silent invisible animal rushed through the room all around me.
In its wake, papers on the table rustled and the ornaments on the display cabinet, just behind me, rattled.
It lasted for ever...guys 10 seconds is a VERY LONG time to be confused because it gives you time to start getting anxious and start the old 'fight or flight' instincts.
I truly felt that it was a beast of some sort in the room with me and wanted to look under the table for the monster but couldn't make myself do it. As we've been plagued by mice (one at a time) all winter, my feverish imagination shot straight to 'That's a bloody big rat,' all the while knowing it was really rhinoceros-sized.
It was really strange to be so bewildered, bordering on scared, in my own living-room.
Anyway, the heavy 'whoosh' stopped and, my neck prickling by now, I reasoned out what it might be but I felt I needed the comforting confirmation of someone else's assessment so I made my way to bed, a touch speedily, and 'woke' the other half.
'Did you just feel something?'
'Yeah, the bed moved. I thought it was you coming to bed.' Not the best comment for him to make when I had imagined a creature much more immense than me!
Still, it was the highlight of all conversations today. No-one was hurt but a few chimney-stacks toppled near the epicentre in Lincolnshire. 5.2 on the Richter Scale--I know, fiddling and small, truly a very 'British' earthquake.
What strikes me as strange, with hindsight, is that I didn't recognise it for what it was, immediately. This is the fourth British earthquake I've experienced in my life. All of them puzzled me at the time--so why didn't I recognise it straightaway? I think in such uncommon situations, I must react with my primitive reptilian brain first, then rationalise it when there's time for thought.
I do say though that my heart goes out to those unfortunates whose lives are devastated by the real thing.
In its wake, papers on the table rustled and the ornaments on the display cabinet, just behind me, rattled.
It lasted for ever...guys 10 seconds is a VERY LONG time to be confused because it gives you time to start getting anxious and start the old 'fight or flight' instincts.
I truly felt that it was a beast of some sort in the room with me and wanted to look under the table for the monster but couldn't make myself do it. As we've been plagued by mice (one at a time) all winter, my feverish imagination shot straight to 'That's a bloody big rat,' all the while knowing it was really rhinoceros-sized.
It was really strange to be so bewildered, bordering on scared, in my own living-room.
Anyway, the heavy 'whoosh' stopped and, my neck prickling by now, I reasoned out what it might be but I felt I needed the comforting confirmation of someone else's assessment so I made my way to bed, a touch speedily, and 'woke' the other half.
'Did you just feel something?'
'Yeah, the bed moved. I thought it was you coming to bed.' Not the best comment for him to make when I had imagined a creature much more immense than me!
Still, it was the highlight of all conversations today. No-one was hurt but a few chimney-stacks toppled near the epicentre in Lincolnshire. 5.2 on the Richter Scale--I know, fiddling and small, truly a very 'British' earthquake.
What strikes me as strange, with hindsight, is that I didn't recognise it for what it was, immediately. This is the fourth British earthquake I've experienced in my life. All of them puzzled me at the time--so why didn't I recognise it straightaway? I think in such uncommon situations, I must react with my primitive reptilian brain first, then rationalise it when there's time for thought.
I do say though that my heart goes out to those unfortunates whose lives are devastated by the real thing.
