h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I suppose there must be pillboxes scattered along the coasts of Britain. I can think of a few along the South Downs, though they're ruins.

Of course they date from the Second World War.Imagine sitting, holed up in a box of concrete, watching and waiting for signs of a German invasion. It would have been cold and boring, but there was always a chance that you'd hear the drone of approaching planes, or see the grey shape of a ship that shouldn't be there.

It reminds me of a bunker I saw in the German town of Beuel. (I lived in Beuel for a time.) They'd turned it into an apartment house, but I would have worried about the lack of windows.

No windows?

Millions of them around here, most guarding the vast allied military vehicle secret car park on Levers Estate!

That's another entry for Sasha!

Watch out for bogus door "to door" salesmen I fell for it and look what was fitted

At least you could go out for a breath of fresh air from time to time.

I have slept in the nuclear bunkers of Geneva several times (they used those as accomodation for a sports event).

We did some urban exploring and found lists of who was entitled a place in those bunkers. The sleeping quarters had a fulltime occupation schedule (Three eight hour shifts). I'm not sure if I would want to stay inside there for decades, if it came to it.

If you ever want to know the real meaning of "dark", you should go in there, shut the three ten-inch blast doors and turn off the lights. After a while you can get blinded by the illumination of your watch…


Pillbox-bunker-wise, we were on the wrong side of the border here in the Netherlands. They are mainly found along the coast (Atlantik-wall). Our own strategy was to flood areas to stop an invasion. That would have worked up to the invention of flying.

I can see how flooding might not work against airplanes...

So, bunkers of that construction were known as pillboxes?

That's a new one on me. I hadn't heard of that. I still wouldn't want to live in an apartment converted from such a bunker.

And the pictures were taken in Scotland? Were these buildings built during World War Two? Did Scotland even need to fear German invasion? (That war is such a vast subject that there are many aspects I haven't heard of.)

I don't know that much about the effects of the war on Scotland.

However, the main UK naval base was in Scapa Flow in the Orkneys,
and the Scottish Regiments were very much involved in the war.

http://www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk/the-pillbox-study-group/why-pillbox/

I've often thought how "pillboxes" got their name ?

As a fan of the late Jacqueline Kennedy, I welcome this chance to mention another meaning for pillbox: a type of hat that she was fond of wearing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillbox_hat

Granted, her hats were too small and not concrete enough to hold off enemies, but, God bless her, she brightened things up when the world was growing more dangerous (Bay of Pigs invasion? escalation in Vietnam? Khrushchev pounding hi shoe on the table in th U.N/?).

Thank heavens we had her as a welcome distraction.

I now return you to your discussion of pillbox bunkers.

Also a form of pillbox hat worn by "underlings/pages etc" in top class hotels - calling Mr etc etc

Yes, I seem to recall seeing that in the film "The grand Budapest Hotel."

A top hat is only a pillbox hat on steroids

I can't disagree with you there.

"Top Hat" is one of my favorite movies.

Fred Astaire was not especially tall or imposing, but give him a tailcoat and top hat, and he was magnificent. That was an era when the clothing men wear seemed to matter. Nowadays, sartorial splendor seems limited to upscale women.

Remember the 1961 movie "West Side Story"? Here's a link that shows the costumes:
http://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/irene-sharaff-s-costume-designs-new-york-public-library-for-the-performing-arts/XgKy1MvzC-_XLw?hl=en

Note that some of these punks were wearing neckties in some scenes.

We have fallen a long way since then.