Cambridge struck by 5.2 earthquake!

At 00:56 am on Wednesday 27th February 2008, Cambridge was hit by an earthquake, with a magnitude of 5.2 on the Richter scale.  The British Geological Survey said that it was ‘the largest earthquake in the UK since the magnitude 5.4 Lleyn Peninsula earthquake in 1984′ (The Cambridge Student, 28/02/08).  They claimed that it was a significant earthquake for the UK since earthquake of magnitude 5 or above occur roughly every 10 to 20 years in the UK.

Living in Hong Kong since I was born, I have never experienced a tremor before.  To me, ‘earthquake’ is in fact just a term appears in my Geography textbook or the newspapers. It was indeed the first earthquake that i have ever felt. When the huge tremor struck, I was reading articles at my desk . All of a sudden, I could feel my desk and chair shaking. I did not have a clue what it was until I heard my flat mates slamming the doors and storming out of their rooms.  Fortunately, it only lasted about 10 seconds. If the tremor had lasted longer, I would have been petrified.

My Trip to Nottingham

The purpose of my trip to Nottingham was three-fold: to visit my best friend who is living in Beeston; to experience the life of a student at the University of Nottingham and; to meet the famous Robin Hood in Nottingham.

To achieve my first goal, I went to Beeston to meet my friend on Saturday 22 Feburary 2008. It took more than 2 hours to travel from Cambridge to Beeston.  Beeston is in fact a suburb of the City of Nottingham, 3 miles southwest of Nottingham City Centre. The size of Beeston railway station can tell you how ‘enormous’ the town is.  Beeston is the place where my friend works and it is also the place where the Univeristy of Nottingham is situated.

The best thing of visiting my old friend in Beeston is that I can be a real Chinese. I could speak Cantonese all day and have mouth-watering Chinese cuisine for every single meal there.  My friend is such a fantastic hostess who offers excellent bed & breakfast accomodation.  She served congee with chicken and dried scallops (conpoy) as breakfast, wonton noodles as lunch, and hoi nam chicken rice as well as seafood pot as dinner. 

To achieve my second goal, we went to the Univeristy of Nottingham on Saturday afternoon.  Just a 10-minute walk from my friend’s apartment can take me to the stunning campus.  As a so-called English linguist, I definitely would like to explore the Department of English Studies at the University of Nottingham. Guess what? Doors of the department building were all locked and my goal of being a Nottingham student could hardly be fulfilled.

To avoid disappointment again, my good friend brought me to the Nottingham Castle on Sunday morning to meet the world’s most famous outlaw.  I learned archery from Robin Hood (just the posture only!) and took photos with him (Robin Hood Memorial Statue!). After I met the honourable Robin Hood, I decided to join his outlaw band to fight against injustic and tyranny. To become a real Nottingham Forest Outlaw, I wore a Robin Hood hat with felt feather which I bought from the Nottingham Castle souvenir shop. I invited my friend to be an outlaw together, but she was not as keen as me. I believe she does not want to give up her decent job as a civic engineer!

After visiting the Castle, I planned to go to the outlaw’s retreat in Sherwood Forest where Robin Hood robbed the rich travellers to feed the poor by distributing the loot. Finally I didn’t. It’s getting dark and it would be too dangerous for me to go to the greenwood without a bow and arrow set.