My first thought was "hey, this is an earthquake"

then I thought, "Naw, can't be. This is England."

Then it kept going on and I thought, "Is my two hundred year-old ceiling going to collapse on me?"

Well, as we all know,

this is the end of the world.

conversation via Messenger with a colleague:

Hilary says:
OH MY GOSH!

Hilary says:
I thought I was hallucinating,
or the Polish guy next door had got especially lucky last night
But it turns out we had an earthquake
and quite a strong one

Hilary says:
crikey!

John says:
Oh. Yes. I remember reading something about that. How was it?

Hilary says:
quakey

John says:
Earthquakes don't happen very often in Britain do they?

Hilary says:
try At All

John says:
Well, let that be a lesson.

Hilary says:
I'm so used to earthquakes from having grown up on the west coast that the first thing I thought was "Oh, earthquake"

Hilary says:
It took me a few more seconds and I remembered that i'm not in Victoria anymore so then I freaked out a bit and wondered if something violent was going on.

Hilary says:
no noise though, no gunshots or anyting (that's Toronto-training..good old Parkdale).

Hilary says:
Victorian earthquakes never lasted more than a second or so.

Hilary says:
this one went on quite a long time

Hilary says:
MAN that's weird

Hilary says:
5.2, apparently.
big, even by west coast standards

John says:
"Sam, I'm glad you're here with me at the end of all things."

Hilary says:
yeah. even if only in a kind of disembodied, text-oriented sort of way

So when birds start flying backwards and the sea starts giving up her dead, we'll know.