Carl Tyler's Blog

1 - It actually might be a montly airraid siren system test. We do that in The Netherlands too. Every first Monday of the month at 12.00 am

2 - Perhaps W is coming back...

3 - Erwin guessed right
In France the siren test starts every first wednesday of the month at 12:00 am

4 - Last year I worked at a small mining town in Arnhem Land, in the far north of Australia, for a few wonderful months and on occasion used to hear loud sirens of the air raid type going off from a few miles across the desert. When I inquired among the longer-term employees I was advised that they werent left over from WW2 (the U.S.forces had a fighter base there then) rather were installed on the conveyer belt, the longest in the southern hemisphere, to wake any of the local aboriginal natives who may have chosen to lay down on it and sleep due to the warmth-retaining characteristics of the black rubber and being softer than the ground. It is true that these people, who were much friendlier than many of the 'angry' half-caste people we get in the cities in Australia, would lay down anywhere to sleep being nomadic in nature and would on cool nights sleep on the tar-sealed roads for their warmth - I did see this myself.