Quaking in my boots

July 4 morning and it couldn’t start much bigger with the Hermosa Iron Man .By 1030am I decide to slip out for a surf , more as a reason to freshen up than actually catching any decent waves . The beach is already pretty crowded with families setting up for the traditional day at the beach celebration for 4th of July . After an hour I head back to the house , still a little vagued out from the previous weeks travels to Vegas and Big Sur . On arrival Emma asks me if I felt the earth quake . ” What earth quake ? You serious ” “Yehhhhaa , there’s a pretty big earth quake that just struck , the whole house shook . Leroy got scared and sat on my lap .” “Fuck , I’m spewing , I missed it ! I’ve been here 2 years and have never experienced it and Al, Ash and Tim have been here 2 minutes and they’ve already tasted an earth quake “,I cry . ” “Babe , it was scary ,it’s not like you missed something good .” “Fuck , hows that work ? I’m out surfing shit waves and you guys get to experience a shake . ” Ahh well there’s always next time . The unnerving bit about this event was that just 2 days prior Al, Ash ,Tim and myself had stopped right at the epicentre of this earth quake in the Mojave Desert to take photos of a Joshua tree . You can’t get too caught up with fate but the trend of just missing major shakes would continue .

I often visit my mate Don. Don ( name change ) is the resident life guard on …well one of the towers near our house …. I Don’t want to get him in trouble , although every thing he tells me is fair and reasonable . I have intended to blog about him but I’ve been embarrassed to get his photo and tell him my intentions . It’s stupid , I know he’d be more than happy to let me do it , although as a public servant some things would need to be pared back . We talk about a lot of stuff but the advice he gave me about a possible earth quake made me laugh . “You got your earth quake kit ? ” , he asks . “Yeah mate , got one of those for each of us , my wife Emma made them up .” This is another Californian necessity that you never would’ve thought of if you live in Melbourne . An earthquake kit ?!! Its compulsory at the start of each school year that your child brings in their earth quake supply kit, how weird is that ? “What have you got in it ?”,he asks . “Ahh fucked if I know mate , Emma got that sorted .”, I know he’s looking and pausing and then translating back to himself what I just said . ” You need a weeks supply of water , plenty of canned food , vitamins , a 1st aid kit and you need to be holding .”, he replies . I laugh ” I’m guessing you mean a gun mate ?” “Fuck yeah , you’re gonna need it when shit goes down , there’ll be mobs running the streets pillaging and taking what they need , you gotta be prepared . ” Fuck mate , I’m hoping I’ll be outta here before that shit goes down .” He looks at me with a twinkle in his eye and a hint of a smile . ” The next ones due Troy , it’ll happen any time .” It’d be 3 months later that that old Donny boys prediction becomes a near miss .

1 day later (July 5) ………. We are in a cool little bar in Ensenada ,Mexico on the side walk chowing down on $3 fish tacos whilst dropping a bucket of Dos Equis down . We just witnessed the quickest knockout in UFC history when Masvidal knocked out Askren with an earth shattering knee , it wasn’t the only sudden impact at the time . We had been chatting away to a Californian couple about all sorts of shit , including the recent earth quake , when a little flash of green popped up on my phone . I look down and see it’s a message from Emma . A second larger quake had just hit at around 830 at night ( I’m vague on the time , we’d been travelling and drinking for 10 days straight ) . I relay the news to the couple . They quickly get on the phone to check on relatives and her teenage kids who are home alone . It turned out this one registered 7.1 at its epicentre , 10 times stronger according to seismologists than the one the day before in the same region as the 6.4 magnitude of the previous day in the Mojave desert . This one had Emma and Leroy pretty shaken up ( pardon the pun , but it’s apt ) , fortunately the Mojave is 230 miles ( 370 kilometres ) from LA and any real damage was isolated to towns in the region …… Once again , I was not home to experience it ……….. Tell me it doesn’t run in 3s , I’ve missed 2 ……… do I really need to get a gun for the next one ?