4 ms·
I wonder which part of this (admittedly odd fashion statement) seemed surprising to you? Gas masks were of course ubiquitous during the war, so this was probabl
by dTal 4y ago
I wonder which part of this (admittedly odd fashion statement) seemed surprising to you? Gas masks were of course ubiquitous during the war, so this was probably only about as eccentric as wearing an N95 mask would seem now. And the alarm clock seems like a fairly practical if whimsical hack in an age when chronometers would have been mechanical, and therefore quite expensive.
- avg_dev 4y agoI didn't know about the gas masks being ubiquitous during the war; that makes that part a little less surprising. History can be sad.
- ihaveajob 4y agoI bought one at a swap meet in Amsterdam a few years ago. They were piled up high and cheap. It made a fun gift for a friend back home, but we got really odd looks on the train when wearing it :).
- thenthenthen 4y agoTry Wear a N96 or FFP or surgical mask now in the train in NL and people will look at you in the same fashion haha
- gmac 4y agoAh, careful: https://www.nationalasbestos.co.uk/news/wwii-gas-masks-a-life-saver-or-a-potential-killer/ https://www.nationalasbestos.co.uk/news/wwii-gas-masks-a-lif...
- switchbak 4y agoThey were common, but you wouldn't have seen folks wearing them around the countryside, certainly not on a bike!
- ravi-delia 4y agoI feel like the average person absolutely was not wearing a gas mask at all times. Having myself used an N95 in my neverending war on pollen I totally understand though.
- dTal 4y agoNo, of course people didn't routinely wear them. But every citizen was issued one. Children took them to school every day, and were drilled in their use. It's still an eccentric thing to do, of course. But, like the alarm clock tied around his waist, it was an instance of solving a problem by grabbing something close to hand.