Sunday 23 June 2019

Sonic Boom Sunday Selfie


cat with shocked face
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So there I was yesterday evening at around 6:45 pm enjoying a nap upstairs in our bedroom with Mum, who was working at her desk in the corner when all of a sudden BANG!

Mum and I both jumped. "What the f*** was that?" Mum said, staring at me.

Panicked, she shouted out for Granny downstairs to see if she was alright. Gran sounded pretty shaken. "Come down and see what it was, Marie."

Mum flew down the stairs to check on Granny. She was OK but obviously startled like us. I heard Mum open the patio door to go out into the garden. "Can't see anything out there," she said, before rushing back upstairs to check the other rooms and then opened the bedroom window to see if she could see what had caused this terrifying noise. 

Was it a bomb? A gas explosion? Car crash? Plane crash? 

She ran back downstairs and opened the front door and saw that some of the neighbours were coming out of their houses - all equally panicked and bemused. No one had seen anything, they said but had just heard that deafening bang. 

Mum came back inside and took to Twitter to find out what was going on and soon it was trending. Yes, our little town in Essex was trending! But not only that. It soon became clear that the loud bang was heard all over Essex and also in Hertfordshire, and beyond.

So what was it?

Two RAF Typhoon fighter jets scrambled to intercept a Turkey-bound plane from Stansted Airport because of a "disruptive passenger" on board. In the rush to escort the aircraft back to Stansted, where it had taken off 45 mins earlier,  the fighter jets created a sonic boom - a noise created when an object travels faster than the speed of sound. 

We're glad nothing more serious had happened and the plane landed safely. The "disruptive passenger", a woman in her mid-twenties, was arrested by police. More here.

Meanwhile, Mum is still quite worried that there may be more to it. She isn't into spreading conspiracy theories, just knows this world is getting more and more dangerous. 







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12 comments:

Erin the Cat Princess said...

Whatever the cause, we sure are glad everyone is OK. We cats need our naps, so I for one will be keeping some cotton wool on standby from now on, just in case they have to do that to us.
Safe purrs
ERin

Memories of Eric and Flynn said...

I read about it in the paper today. It must have been quite a fright for you.
When Concorde used to fly out over Cornwall and reached Mach 2, we used to hear the sonic boom every night around 8pm. It wasn't ear shattering loud though because they had to wait until they got to the sea before reaching that speed. We always knew when it was coming though because the pheasants would start shouting a few minutes before.

The Florida Furkids said...

Wow...that had to be scary. We know how loud sonic booms are because we hear them all the time when they launch rockets. Glad everyone is okay.

The Florida Furkids

Melissa, Mudpie and Angel Truffles (Mochas, Mysteries and Meows) said...

How scary!!! Glad everyone is okay and hope nothing else happens.

pilch92 said...

Yikes! That must have been very scary.

meowmeowmans said...

Whoa! We can understand how that would be scary, Athena and Mum!

Dash Kitten Crew said...

That would have knocked me for a loop for sure! Wow how scary is that.

I am glad you are all ok * hugs *

Little Miss Titch said...

That sounded scary,but I don't take any notice of the fighter jets that fly over us all the time so I don't I would have taken notice of these 2,xx Speedy

Athena Cat Goddess Wise Kitty said...

It was scary because and Mum says she's never heard a sonic boom in all her life! And that's a long life :)

We worry for the poor animals that got frightened.

Eastside Cats said...

The Hubby says that because he grew up near an Air National Guard Base, and the sonic booms happened a lot back in the day! I don't think I've ever heard one, so I would have been "What the f***!?" just like you! Glad it was nothing, but my nerves would have been twitching for a long time afterward, for sure!

Sherri-Ellen T-D. said...

EEEEKKKKKK!!! Athena an Miss Marie how terryfyin that must have bin fore you both an Grannie too. Athena yore Selfie meowss it all ;)
LadyMew meowed to mee shee herd a sonic boom when shee was 8 or 9 yeerss old. Shee hid under her bed an wuud not come out.....so her PawPaw went under THE bed with her till shee was calmed down. Hee meowed to her what had happened....shee still getss nervuss over loud noisess butt ree-memburrss how sweet her PawPaw was to bee so carin to her when shee was so scared!
Wee both hope today iss a MUCH quietur day for all of you!
***purrsss*** an ~~head rubsss~~BellaDharma~~

Peachy, Stippie, Angel Binky and Granny said...

Holy CowKittiness, that must have been scary *shivers*. Pawkisses for a Happy Wednesday, dear Athena and MaryπŸΎπŸ˜½πŸ’ž