What's in an earthquake?

As it happens plenty. As often happens, I suddenly felt rather giddy sitting in my chair as I contemplated my view of Boat Quay... er, I mean a Gordian Knot at work, a veritable challenge that could only be addressed by my contemplating a view of Boat Quay... anyway, let us get on with the matter at heart: I felt giddy.

Quick-witted as a fox, I concluded that I was under attack from the vicious fumes of the slightly ripe cheese on my desk - well if it's not wine, it must be cheese, right?

Wrong. Apparently the building actually shook due to the severe quake in Sumatra.

What followed is tragicomic in retrospect. Colleagues milled about, all disclosing that they all thought they too were sick and hungover. Ok, I made that up, they all thought they were unwell. Coffee cups were filled and google searches were made. Nonchalance ruled. What if it had been real? As a seasoned practitioner of NYC drills, I was tempted to march everyone down the stairs, but nobody seemed to care.

Almost an hour later, the PA system announced something. It took me a very long time to figure out the woman was saying "tremor". My head spun again.