Earthquake - in England??? yep

Kevin, wake up. Kevin, wake up. I think we're having an earthquake. KEVIN, WAKE UP!

Of course, the most I got was a grunt from him... but I can officially say, I was RIGHT.

Wednesday morning at 1am England had the first Earthquake of this magnitude in 20+ years. There was a small earthquake last year (April 2007 in Kent), but I didn't feel it. I know 5.2 on the Richter scale is nothing compared to what the California coast has felt, but it was enough for me...

You know, I have lived through hurricanes and tornados but never an earthquake. As a little girl my grandfather lived in California. I remember him talking about the refrigerator dancing across the floor. Now I have an idea of what he was talking about.

I woke at 1 am (I immediately looked at the clock) to a loud bang. Then I realized the house was shaking - it seemed like a long time but "they" say it was 10 seconds. The wardrobe in my bedroom shook to the point that I thought it was going to fall over. I tried to turn the light on but the bed & the light were shaking too much. I could hear other things in the house trembling but was not willing to investigate. Duke and Daisy, the dogs came running into our bedroom and actually got under the covers. The girls (like their dad) slept through the whole thing.

A few minutes after everything settled down I walked through the house to check on everything and did not find any damage. I opened the windows to listen for any sirens or alarms, but it was unnervingly quite - like the still before the storm, but this was after the storm. There were no bird sounds, no dogs barking, nothing - just absolute quite.

First thing in the morning I turned on the tv to see that I was right - there was an earthquake. The epicentre was about 60 miles away. However, less than 10 miles from me there were some homes with downed chimneys, missing roof tiles, etc. Needless to say, the earthquake was the topic of choice on Wednesday - every where you went you could hear the conversation centered on the earthquake. But my favorite quote for the day "the British earthquake, it seems, is rather like the British summer - fleeting and mild-mannered, a pale imitation of what we experience when we head south to somewhere like the Mediterranean" (Iain Stewart).

Who knew I would travel half way across the world to feel an earthquake!!!!!!!!!!