London Thinks It Is California!

So one of the nicest things I discovered about living in a big city is that there is something going on all the time. And one of the worst things I have discovered about living in a city is that very often that something is going on underneath my bedroom window at some ungodly hour of the night. Whether it is the London foxes getting frisky, a stupid car alarm or a few friends on their way home loudly from the pub, I am sometimes awoken at the early hours. Last night it was a couple arguing on the sidewalk outside of our flat. I think they had been walking and stopped in front of our building at the apex of their argument. I couldn't really understand what they were saying only that they were saying it for about 15 minutes or so. Sigh.

So I am awake, it is about 12:30 a.m. - and I can't go back to sleep. I get out the laptop and catch up on my local news and I am going from website to website, reading, looking at pictures of an apparently pregnant Angelina Jolie, when all of the sudden I feel a slow vibration. Living in an apartment you occasionally feel someone walking on the floor but that wasn't it. It continued and got more intense. We are living right next to a building that has been in the midst of a remodel for about 6 months. Monday they started digging a huge hole in the backyard that I can only guess might be for a swimming pool. I also know they have been putting in a basement. So the thought crosses my mind that this building is collapsing and coming down. I am thinking I might have to go and rescue Kiki because her room shares a wall with the remodel, when I realize what it is - an earthquake. In London!

It turns out that this earthquake registered about 5.2 on the richter scale which, not huge by any means, is still respectable for England. In fact it is the largest earthquake in England for about 25 years. Not too much damage when you consider that most of these buildings were built about a zillion years ago and there certainly are no earthquake resistant building requirements or codes here.

It was the talk of the town. I must have overhead a dozen conversations that began with, "so did you feel the earthquake last night" . Truthfully speaking, while it was long I have felt bigger earthquakes before and had I not been up already I don't think this would have woken me up. But quite a few of my friends felt it and the earthquake seemed to get bigger as I talked with them. Some described a gentle rocking while others talked about being violently thrown about, even though these people lived about 2 blocks from each other!

Kiki and Snake are true Californians, they slept right through it. And strangely enough, right after the earthquake I started feeling pretty drowsy myself. Maybe because it was just like home and being rocked to sleep by something comfortable and familiar. Now maybe if I could just find myself a decent inexpensive California sparkling wine here, I could sleep like a baby!!