Sunday, August 5, 2007

Not factoring in the humidity ...

It is 85 degrees at 10:36 p.m. The thermometer on the front porch is probably correct and it would be a bleak situation if we had to sleep without our artificial winter.

When we were youngsters here in the semi-tropics, air conditioning was unheard of in homes. Back then, we were skinny kids who didn't have video games. We could not wait to go outside and play during those long summer days when we weren't cavorting at the beach, fishing in the bay or slinging a baited hook off a causeway.

I caught my first shark and the first of many barracuda, before I reached my teenage years. That was much more exciting than a video game.

Open windows and night breezes ... open windows and the ten o'clock morning easterly. Fans stirred the air in public places. The first air conditioners in theaters and places of business were the beginning of a lifelong addiction to comfort.

We are so much smarter now. Or are we?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you believe, we walked to those theaters and walked all around the downtown area. I recall going into stores with Mom that were lots cooler than the outside temps. Finally someone got a window fan for the upstairs front window where Bro. and I slept. I can still fall asleep to the rattle of a fan shoving air across a warm room!

Big Ed said...

Yes, the good ole days. Where you had to walk uphill to school and afterwards walk uphill home. You used to walk through three feet of snow. Yes, I have heard all the troubles you all had back in the day. Now, you can't walk to school, you might become kidnapped. We can't deal with out AC; it is how we deal with the Blazing heat.

Anonymous said...

Big E: I-on-the-other-hand walked through acres of snake infested Palmetto fields to reach my classroom - so great was my love of education and just plain book-learnin'. Not.

Big Ed said...

LOL