17th/18th Jan
Went to dining hall to wait for van to bakery. Didn't bother with gas mask. Along came the others for last night's shift - couple of other volunteers and some of the members' kids.... all with their gas masks. After much deliberation, persuaded myself to go back and get mine. Still thought I wouldn't need it.
2 AM, working quite happily. Shift manager runs up to me and asks whereabouts of someone's mask and tells me to get mine. Lights go out. Just as I was opening my box! Never crapped myself as much as I did then. Lights were out for about half a minute. Could've panicked, but kept my cool. Everything was silent. All the machines dead. Later found out that when the lights had gone out, all the electricity had been turned off so all the ovens and machines could be switched off at the same time. Everyone rounded up and told to go to bakery kitchen and get a coffee. After the electricity break had silenced all the machines I'd gone around turning them all back on again. Crazy. I now had to rush about switching them off once more - 'I don't want to be left up here by myself'.
On with the radio in the kitchen, an announcement (in Hebrew, English and Russian) told us to put on our gas masks. First time for many of us. 'Hope it's on properly'. Bit puzzled at first but figured it out. Twenty minutes of sitting and waiting for more news. One of the kibbutz members appears and told to follow him (like lemmings?) back up into 'Packing'. Wandered around for a few minutes before being told to turn all the machines back ON again. We all thought we'd be going back to the kibbutz. No chance. 'This isn't safe, where's a sealed room?'
For the next hour and a half, sheer hell. Loads of burnt bread! Didn't have any empty bread containers so every time one filled up we took it to a corner and emptied it on the floor. Things started to calm down eventually and I just took it easy till 6.30 am (the time we left.) Found out that all the production shift had left to get back up to the kibbutz even before the power had been cut (so much for sticking together.)
Before I left, I managed to see a once-bearded volunteer clean shaven. Said he'd never shaved so quick. First with scissors, then a blunt razor still sharp enough to slice the skin sending blood trickling down his neck. Maybe they can make gas masks to fit over beards!!