nasty suprise, huh?
yes, it is shocking when your area rarely has one! even a mild one!
Joyfulgirl--
i'm in nyc &about about 15 maybe later yrs ago......
Our building siat on a hill 7 stories up from avenue below, half held up by thig gigantic stone and cement ? foundation, surrounded by trees. <quite magically , actually>.
we had a first floor apt in the back and over looked the rooftops of below bldngs. This building also had a cement long, wide balcony overhanging. The effect became almost any sound below was magnified. Basketball bounces nearly like gun shots.. Trucks? ha - VIBrATIONS! and motorcycles... luckily traffic was rarely heavy, esp at nite>
So I'm having a dream. I am in a elevator and it starts going too fast, its shakes I start to yell in the dream, but wake up screaming "earthquake!"
I hear a rolling away rumble with a fading light vibration. I turn around mutter....trucks! and go back to sleep.
when i wake up 3 hrs later flip on the radio, hearing "shake, rattle & roll", and some other songs.
THEN the DJ says...whoa, that's for THE EATHQUAKE we had early this morning...did you feel it ?whaaaaa!!!!
amazingly strange, freaky...one reason i'd never live in Calif.
i loved your ...'but there was NO subway' line!