Things that go bump in the night

or should that be bang? 
Bang in the day too.
Yesterday was an interesting day - partly for the wrong reasons. 
I was given some flowers. The flowers are lovely and I appreciate the thoughtfulness behind the gift.
While the two visitors were still here I took out "the vase". It was the only tall vase we had. I rather liked the lines of  it. It was a very simple plain glass vase. It  belonged to my mother of course. Middle Cat gave it to her years ago. It was the sort of thing that was heavy enough not to topple over too.
And no, it didn't topple over and I didn't drop it.
It simply broke.
I had filled it with water. V... had cut the stems on the flowers back a bit and arranged them rather more nicely than I can ever manage. I was putting it carefully on the table when there was a sudden "bang" and the bottom fell out. Just....like...that...
There were just two pieces of glass...the base...and the top...
There was water everywhere. It was a big vase. There was a lot of water.
I stood there. V...stood there. Her husband stood there... The Senior Cat just sat there. We were all so startled we simply didn't move for one of those seemingly endless moments in time.
I am still not sure how I didn't manage to drop the upper part - the part I had been holding.
Of course then common sense arrived and we exclaimed and V.... and M....helped me clear up the mess - for which I was exceedingly grateful. 
I put the flowers in a water jug we don't use because it is glass and not safe around me or the Senior Cat on a "constantly used" basis. 
M...told me that he once saw a coffee mug hanging on a hook "explode" too - well, just shatter. Nobody was near it at the time. 
After all that though I could have done without the fireworks last night.  They aren't legal. Vases that go bang shouldn't be legal either.