Eek! Things that go bump in the night

I'm a bit of a night owl and I was just settling down in bed with a nice new book at 1 am (yes, I confess, I'm that much of a night owl) when the bed bucked and then shook. Immediate alarm, I thought there must be someone or something under the bed (space under bed is about 2 inches max!). Then there was shaking all around the room and what sounded like a bird that was trapped flapping its wings and trying to get out. I thought a bird had got in the house, then I thought no bird is big enough to move my bed and shake it that way. I have to admit, I was terrified. Then it stopped. When I got my courage back I got up and searched the room, then I searched the whole house. Everything looked normal except that the rabbit hadn't eaten any of her food. I decided it must be an earthquake, and turned on the TV but there was nothing on there about an earthquake and I couldn't think of any other way of finding out if I was right.

This morning's news confirmed that it was in fact an earthquake, 5.3 on the Richter Scale. The epicenter was about 130 miles away from here, but only 50 miles from Sheffield where my son goes to university. I called to make sure he is okay, and he said he and his housemates (except one heavy sleeper) were all woken because the house they live in shook so badly. When it stopped they were all afraid it would start again, but it didn't.

So, everyone had things going bump in the night.