Tsunami or not tsunami, that is the question?

At about 11.30 I headed off to bed. We've had a few beers and the odd voddie, but nothing to outrageous and I can still manage the walk up the steps to my bed. I get into bed and place my head on the pillow for what I hope will be a good nights sleep.

CLICKETY CLACK, CLICKETY CLACK, CLICKETY CLACK. The sound of what appears to be a steam train is running through my bedroom at a very fast rate. Then, just to add to the special effects the bed starts shaking and shuddering.

The whole thing from the train arriving to departing lasts about 3-5 seconds.

I sit bold upright. "What the fuck was that!?" I shout to no-one in particular. I sit there. Alert. Or alert as you can be after a few sherries. There is no more sound. There is no more movement. I wonder to myself if I have just experienced my first earthquake. I decide to myself that I had and spend the next half hour wondering if I should move upstairs to the TV room in case a bloody tsunami sweeps me out to sea. I listen intently for the sudden rush of water. Nothing. I fall asleep.

Next morning, I ask Chris and Sonia if they heard it. They look at me like I'm an idiot so I decide that I imagined it in my semi-drunken stupor.

Bruce, the islands chef arrives to cook breakfasts. "I dont spose you've seen the news today mate?" I enquire.

"No, not today." is the reply

"Oh, I thought I felt an earthquake last night, that's all."

"Yeah, there was one, about 11.45"

I was right! After years of visiting my sister in San Francisco and hoping for just a little one to see what it felt like and getting nothing. Not so much as a tremor. I get my first on an island in the middle of the Pacific.

If I wasn't alone it would have been the perfect opportunity to ask "Did the earth move for you dear?"