PITCHING (October 27, 2000)

I was standing at the edge of a terrace of a small two-storey house and talking with a fellow. We were leaning against the terrace railing and facing the house. It was a friend’s house, but I do not remember who the friend was. Suddenly, the terrace started sinking under our feet. The house was pitching toward us, threatening to fall on top of us. The movement was slow but ever faster. Realizing that it was the two of us who had somehow upset the balance, we made a couple of steps toward the house. We were giggling and saying something to the effect that our friend’s house was not all that safe. Indeed, the motion first stopped and then reversed itself. The house came back to rest with a bit of a thump. When we walked out and looked at the house from the foot of a hill on which it was perched, we could see that one of its corners, where the terrace was, had no supporting column because there was another building underneath it. I think it was a gas station with a shop attached to it. Presumably, the opposite corner of the house, resting on the hill itself, was not properly anchored. Only if a couple of people were at the very edge of the terrace would the balance be upset. Plausible, but not plausible enough, I realized when I woke up.