At least something interesting has happened in Lincolnshire for a change. I have just spent the morning in Sleaford and people were speaking of nothing else.
…and won’t be for the next 30 years.
You said it. I was just nodding off on the 4th floor of a 300-year old hotel in Holbeach, about 50 miles from the epicentre. I slept through the 1984 North Wales quake so I was quite pleased to witness this one, once I had decided the hotel was not about to collapse. About 30 seconds of being gently shaken- rather enjoyable, really.
Time, I think, to resurrect this from the Dudley Earthquake in 2002 :-
*Dudley Earthquake Appeal
A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE MEASURING 4.8 ON THE RICHTER SCALE, HIT IN THE EARLY
HOURS OF MONDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER 2002 EPICENTERED ON DUDLEY, WEST
MIDLANDS
Victims can be seen wandering aimlessly muttering : “Yam Orwight?”,
“Boing Boing” and “Bostin”. The Earthquake decimated the area, causing
approximately £30 worth of damage. Several priceless collections of
mementos from the Balearics and Spanish costas were damaged. Three
area of historic and scientifically significant litter were disturbed
Many were woken well before their giro arrived. Thousands are confused
and bewildered, trying to come to terms with the fact that something
interesting has happened in Dudley
*
*One resident, Donna-Marie Dutton, a 17 year old mother-of-three said
“It was such a shock, little Chantal-Leanne came running into my bedroom
crying. My youngest two, Tyler-Morgan and Megan-Storm slept through it.
I was still shaking when I was watching Trisha the next morning.”
Apparently though, looting did carry on as normal.
The British Red Cross have so far managed to ship 4000 crates of Sunny
Delight to the area to help the stricken masses.
Rescue workers are still searching through the rubble and have found
large quantities of personal belongings including benefit books and
jewellery from Elizabeth Duke at Argos.
* HOW YOU CAN HELP
This appeal is to raise clothing and food parcels for those unfortunate
enough to be caught up in it.
Clothing is most sought after.
Items required include: -
Flat caps
Donkey Jackets
Heavy Twill Trousers (Male)
Shell Suits (Female)
Boots.
Food parcels may be harder to put together but necessary all the same.
Required foodstuffs include: -
Faggots
Grey Peas
Pork Scratchings
Tripe and Onions
Black Pudding
Banks’s Bitter or Mild
£2 buys chips, scraps and blue pop for a family of four
*£10 can take a family to Stourport for the day, where children can play
on an unspoiled canal bank among the national collection of stinging
nettles
22p buys a biro for filling in a spurious compensation claim
Please do not send tents for shelter, as the sight of “posh” housing is
unfair on the population of neighbouring areas of Gornal, Oldbury and
Sedgley.*
My God Rayne Man I had forgotten all about the Dudley Earthquake.
How did those poor souls endure such horrors, surely they must have been traumatised for life
I swear if one more colleague/classmate/random acquaintance makes a “joke” relating to the earth having moved or not moved for them last night there is gonna be blood.
What did you do to deserve that?
Peterborough - Yep, I was still awake when it hit, although I didn’t realise it was an earthquake until I woke up and people were talking about it.
I thought maybe it was a large convoy of trucks going by on the nearby motorway, it seemed the more reasonable explanation at the time…
I did get time off for good behaviour !
Me too and I was wide awake at the reported time of the earthquake.
Ealing, West London - near the Great Western main line, under the Heathrow flightpath, within a mile of a police station, a fire station and a hospital with an A&E department.
Normally I am such a light sleeper that I am woken if a fly farts three streets away. Definitely heard the Buncefield explosion.
But slep soundly through that 'quake.
I’ve now spoken to colleagues and apparently I was awake when the earthquake hit. I was playing games on the computer and thought there was some animal rattling the back door.
sigh
You people call THAT an earthquake?
Manchester. I felt it; thought at first someone was trying to break into the house, then I thought maybe the people next door were moving heavy furniture. Then I thought “why would they be doing that at one in the morning? Weirdos.”
Typical Yank “My earthquake’s bigger than yours”
Bath here, it woke me up. I hadn’t been asleep for long and was woken by the window rattling (I’ve got the common Bath sash windows that rattle when a mouse coughs at them) and my bed swaying. It was a strange wobbling sensation, like being on a water bed (although, come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever tried out a water bed).
It was one of those half-awake “is this really happening?” moments; I put it down to imagination and went back to sleep, not realising until I saw the news this morning that some quaking shit did go down after all.
Same story with the Buncefield explosion - I woke up thinking it was a nightmare and went back to sleep pretty quickly.
I love how the OMG WORST EARTHQUAKE in 1/4 CENTURY! resulted in one injured pelvis. How craptacularly British.
It was pretty obvious here in north London, even though it was just the building slightly swaying one way and then back again. Not much more severe than a large lorry thumping past the road outside, but a much smoother motion than such a judder. And no noise.
Had never felt an earthquake tremor before, but it was distinct enough that I quickly guessed that’s what it was.
Milton Keynes - I went zzzzz right through it. I did feel thr Dudley quake in 2002 though.
Nope, didn’t feel a thing here. (see location.)
Actually, I’m in California too, but I won’t ridicule you about English vs. Cali earthquakes.
It’s much more fun to make fun of transplanted New Yorkers who freak out when we have earthquakes here.
Seriously, I didn’t even know you had them in the UK.
It woke me up in north London, though I do suspect my block of flats is made out of cornflake boxes sometimes. I valiantly battered the poltergeist with the first thing to hand - a stupid snake cuddly toy thing from London Zoo - before deciding I dreamt it and went back to sleep. Earthquake never occurred to me until I saw the news this morning.
Nor did we (except the 1,056 smartarses about to come in and correct me).
I slept through it. Although I’m apparently the only one in my office who did. It was the talk of the water cooler.