Thank heavens for Radio5
I was just thinking of turning off the light to sleep when the bed - or I - started to vibrate. A sudden marked upward heave, door & window frames rattling, & it was all over
It could not be, thankfully, the house or any nearby structure which was collapsing – no sound of tumbling masonry
Bizarrely, I wondered if there could be a badger in the house
An animal could have got in when the back door blew open earlier in the evening. Perhaps curled up for a snooze, then woken & tried to get out. No cat could have made the house shake like that, & badgers have been in the news this week. But the nearest place there could conceivably be a sett is in the copse at the top of the hill at the back of the house. Its too far, & how could they get over the wall?
I went to investigate, could see no signs of anything untoward
Back to bed, only fairly sure not to sleep, I felt, until a proper inspection could be undertaken in daylight
But live interactive bedside radio really comes into its own in a situation like this. It was actually a relief to hear that people all over the country had had the same experience, could simultaneously sigh Its not just me
And intriguing that the first technical confirmation of what had happened came in a live interview with a very nice sounding man at the US Geological service. The BBC were, apparently, unable to raise UK experts in the middle of the night
