I Feel The Earth Move

I was just about to sit down at my computer yesterday afternoon to tell you about my first California earthquake experience, when I had my second California earthquake experience. The second one didn't make even the local news.

The first one, on the other hand, made only the local news, judging by the fact that I got no phone calls or emails, not one, from any friends or family outside of California inquiring as to my continued existence.

I've learned that The Big One, in earthquake terms, is a mythical creature related to the One That Got Away on the fishing trip, which is to say, it never arrives. It's always in the future. The earthquake in 1989, the one that broke bridges and destroyed neighbourhoods in San Francisco, wasn't the big one. Neither was the one in 1906 — though it was big enough to warrant an elaborate centennial celebration in the City last year.

The earthquake that I experienced on Tuesday night, though it registered 5.6 on the Richter Scale and was by far the biggest one since 1989, was water cooler fodder for one day only. Two days, max. Britney Spears's daily escapades attract, and probably deserve, more media attention.

For me, though, it was a unique experience. You know how in movies, when they want to indicate slow motion, you see a shadow trailing a moving object? Sort of like time-lapse photography? Well, that's what I saw on Tuesday night. I was in my local, the bar in the same block as my apartment building. It's a two storey affair, with a beautiful brick wall that spans the height of the two floors. I swear, I saw that wall move in slow motion, with a trailing shadow.

Then a huge cloud of dust, or smoke, I didn't know which, billowed down the stairs. Through it ran a dozen or so people, down, then straight out onto the street.

Where everyone immediately got on their cell phones.

Fifteen seconds later it was over. I was still standing, frozen, wondering if that had been an earthquake. I know how stupid that sounds. So I called Sparky, who was upstairs in his apartment, and asked if he had felt it.

"Felt it? Yeah, I felt it! I nearly peed my pants!"

So good, it wasn't just me.