We got our free gas masks today!

I remember calling my friend Susan during the first

Gulf War in 1991 when I heard that safe rooms and

gas masks were actually in use. I wanted to make sure

she and her family were safe.

Never in a million years would I have guessed that

twenty-one years later, I would board a bus in Jerusalem 

with my partner, get off at a popular mall and stand in 

line (no, not a real line!) with a motley multilingual crew

 for the better part of hour. We headed home as proud owners of

an individual protection kit, otherwise known as a gas mask.

There was a huge poster on the wall explaining how to use

the thing... only in Hebrew! On the outside of the box it says

in English, Hebrew, Russian and Arabic:

DO NOT OPEN

Opening this kit may reduce its effectiveness.

Open this kit only under clear instructions from the

rear command.(whatever that means)

I think I need to Google the instructions or look for a video

on You Tube. Who says that the internet is a waste of time? 

Newer apartments have a "safe room". We, however, live in

a hundred plus year old cottage with two and a half foot thick

walls. We are told that duct tape is all we need to be safe!!

Donations of duct tape are gratefully received.