THE DAY I PREDICTED AN EARTHQUAKE

Look, I know this is meant to be all about the refurbishment of the Old Bakery but today I predicted an earthquake and I had two witnesses!  Well it is a bit more complicated than that as I actually had a tip off from Scribble (our cat) who at about 8:30pm started to act really strange. Since we have moved here Scribble has never gone out when it is dark but she came into the kitchen and up to the cat flap, meowing and scratching at the door. She became more & more agitated and I really thought that she was going to smash the cat flap so I took her out to see Alison and Claire who were in an out building because I thought it might calm her down. She was still really restless and having never seen her like this I said to them that I think there is an earthquake coming because I've read this is how cats and dogs behave sometimes just before an earthquake. They were not convinced by this at all so I took her back in doors and tried to calm her down. About 30 minutes later an earthquake hit (3.6) in Yorkshire! One report says it was near Ripon, about 180 miles away, and the American scientists say in the North Sea, about 100 miles away. Sceptics will say co-incidence but I know this cat very well and I only mentioned the earthquake idea because she was acting so out of character. I have since been on Google, as you do, and found that her behaviour was totally in line with other anecdotes of such occurrences.
      Sadly we did not get to feel the earth move ourselves but I was not too disappointed as Alison & I experienced the largest known onshore earthquake to occur in the United Kingdom since instrumental measurements began when we were in Wales in 1984.

PREVIOUS QUAKES IN THE UK

February 2008 -  Market Rasen in Lincolnshire (magnitude 5.2)

April 2007 - Folkstone, Kent (magnitude 4.3)

December 2006 -Dumfries & Galloway(3.5)

September 2002 - Dudley, West Midlands (5.0)

October 2001 - Melton Mowbray(4.1)

September 2000 - Warwick (4.2)

April 1990 - Bishop's Castle, Shropshire (5.1)

July 1984 - Nefyn, north Wales (5.4)

June 1931 - in North Sea near Great Yarmouth (6.1)

I can honestly say that I was in bed with my wife and the earth moved, well strictly speaking she was semi-awake and I was on the side of the bed putting my socks on when it hit at 8am.
   5.4 on the Richter scale and there was an almighty deep, deep rumble as the B&B building (with 3' thick walls) shook and we were about 40 miles from the epicentre then. It went on for about 5 seconds.

But 26 years later and several hours after the quake in Yorkshire the cat is now completely back to her normal lazy calm self but every time she gets up I watch her, just in case she has something to tell me......