Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Gas masks time
Just as I was trying to get Youngest to start getting ready for her shower, they announced that we must open the gas mask kits and try them on. Youngest’s special mask completely baffled me. Bish had to go out and forgot to put on his cell phone as usual, so I couldn’t ask him for his advice. The Home Front Command phone line was continually engaged (duh). It took me about half an hour to work it out and dare try it on her. I mainly dithered about trying out the battery-operated pump thingy and then about opening the filter so as not to waste it, but without the filter and the pump you can’t try it on at all. Don’t ask. She hated it, poor thing. I don’t blame her. It says here to keep the masks fitted with the filter. Seeing as I’m sending the girls to school tomorrow, and if necessary their teachers are going to have to help thirty odd children with the masks (if all the kids go to school, which is unlikely), I thought it wiser to leave their rather complicated children’s masks fitted out with the filter, than trust their teachers to have time to fiddle with them for them.

We’ve got to carry the masks everywhere from now on, kids included. This means I have to send Youngest (not yet 8 years-old) to school with an atropin shot in her gas mask box. Is this wise? Bish says I shouldn't worry. I've warned the girls they mustn't touch the atropin and mustn't attempt to put on the masks without grown ups. Eldest seems so unhappy about the whole mask thing that I don't think she'd dream of putting it on by herself.

They’ve also announced that the silent radio station will start working soon (Hebrew link). This is a silent radio broadcast that allows us to sleep with the radio on. This way we can catch the very first code announcing a missile attack originally meant to alert the people who work the air raid sirens. It was a great help in 1991 because you didn’t get much warning in those days and there wasn’t much time to get into your sealed room, air raid shelter or whatever and this way you got a few precious extra seconds.