I was pretty much mucking about making a second coffee when someone called to ask if I had seen the news, which I hadn't. It was big. Had some mindblowing act of war taken place? Had a world leader been assassinated? Had terrorists pulled off a horrendous mass murder? It was amazing. An earthquake bigger than any I have heard about had hit Japan, and there were great tsunamis expected, and although the death toll stood at a few dozen it would doubtless rise to thousands or tens of thousands. Apparently I would want to watch this on television because I like news.

That was a strange way to hear about it. Not just a straight out "there's been an awful tragedy in Japan. A huge earthquake." This was a tip-off about an exciting happening. So my first reaction was slight bemusement about this while I absorbed the tragic scale of things.

Atm we have little more news than that. In Japan the death toll may be hundreds, and it may be much greater. The tsunamis are mercifully weakening before they hit other Pacific shorelines. The rest of us have things to do, but we should be grateful not to face anything like the disasters Japan faces today. No doubt as news unfolds the focus will shift to relief. I hope the casualties and fatalities remain few, that the damage is contained and that things quickly return to normal, and that those that have died in chaos rest in peace.