Minor things that bother you

[kphoger]

I bought cheap-o plane tickets for a trip a couple of weeks ago, so I was assigned to seats in the back row of the aircraft on two of the four flights.

Heading out, on the connecting flight from Dallas to Tampico, on an Embraer 170, I was bumped up at the last minute from the back row to the second row behind first class.

Heading back, on the connecting flight from Dallas to Wichita, on a Bombardier CRJ900, I was not bumped up from the back row.

Of those two, the Embraer 170 is the only one whose back row seats have room behind them to allow for reclining.  Now, why couldn't I have been bumped up on the CRJ900 instead?  Especially considering that was the day that I'd only gotten two hours of sleep the night before and could really use a nap.

[mgk920]

How did we survive before air conditioning?  For example, Congress just took summers off due to the normal gooey weather in the DC area.

Mike

[kphoger]

How did we survive before air conditioning?

I'm not old enough to remember, but from what I gather...

Front porches with overhangs.  Windows with awnings.  Time spent in basements.

[1995hoo]

How did we survive before air conditioning?  For example, Congress just took summers off due to the normal gooey weather in the DC area.

Mike

At my grandparents' house in Brooklyn, the windows would be open, they had very thin curtains to allow for air circulation, and they had these big metal fans that went into the windows that, as a kid, scared the crap out of me because they looked like they'd cut your fingers off (it was easily possible to insert your fingers where they should not have been).

Other than when our AC died last month, the worst place I remember was my third-grade classroom during September and May of the school year. It was on the upper floor on the south side of the building, meaning it got the afternoon sun. And my mother was the type of person who would make us dress for school based on the weather in the morning when we were leaving for the bus stop. So if Mom felt it was cold enough for jeans, we were to wear jeans, regardless of how miserably hot that made it in the afternoon (especially on days when we had to attend phys ed).

[kphoger]

Other than when our AC died last month, the worst place I remember was my third-grade classroom during September and May of the school year. It was on the upper floor on the south side of the building, meaning it got the afternoon sun. And my mother was the type of person who would make us dress for school based on the weather in the morning when we were leaving for the bus stop. So if Mom felt it was cold enough for jeans, we were to wear jeans, regardless of how miserably hot that made it in the afternoon (especially on days when we had to attend phys ed).

When I was in school, they'd let out halfway through the day if temps were getting especially hot.  They'd also hand out still-half-frozen cartons of OJ or milk partway through the morning.

[1995hoo]

Other than when our AC died last month, the worst place I remember was my third-grade classroom during September and May of the school year. It was on the upper floor on the south side of the building, meaning it got the afternoon sun. And my mother was the type of person who would make us dress for school based on the weather in the morning when we were leaving for the bus stop. So if Mom felt it was cold enough for jeans, we were to wear jeans, regardless of how miserably hot that made it in the afternoon (especially on days when we had to attend phys ed).

When I was in school, they'd let out halfway through the day if temps were getting especially hot.  They'd also hand out still-half-frozen cartons of OJ or milk partway through the morning.

I wish they had done that when I was a kid, but they never did. Elementary school was the worst in that respect because of the way the school hours were structured. High school started at 7:30 AM (a different kind of miserable, to be sure!), but they dismissed at 1:50. Junior high started at 8:10 and dismissed at 2:35. Elementary school started at 9:10 and dismissed at 3:35, except on Mondays when they dismissed two hours early to give the teachers a planning period.

Those 3:35 dismissals in schools with no AC were no fun.

The only times I ever remember unscheduled early dismissals were when snowstorms were rolling in. Back then there were also no early dismissals the day before a holiday weekend or the like the way they apparently do now, either. And I don't remember parents taking their kids out of school to hit the road early, say for Thanksgiving.

[kphoger]

I've only stayed in one house in Mexico that had air conditioning, and that was a single night a couple of weeks ago.  Everywhere else, it's been no climate control.  When you spend all day in places that also have no a/c, it's less of a shock to go inside a house without a/c.  It can still be miserable to get to sleep, though, as temps don't often cool down till almost morning.

My good friend who now lives in the high desert of Coahuila is someone who's always warm and has a hard time getting to sleep if he hasn't cooled down.  He says his body has now acclimated to the hotter temps, so that's not much of a problem for him anymore.  Our recent time in Veracruz was different, though, because of the high humidity on top of the high temps:  he's used to hot and dry, but not hot and humid.  While we were there, we spent a lot of time mopping our brows with a rag.  That appears to be a very Mexican thing to do, as I saw plenty of locals doing the same thing.  And probably one out of every four locals I saw down there were at least half-soaked in sweat but apparently thought nothing of it.

On the other side of things, no climate control means no heat in the winter either.  The earliest in the year I've been to Mexico is March, when morning temps barely drop below 50°F in Coahuila.  That makes for chilly morning showers if the hot water is on the fritz, but quite tolerable otherwise.  But my friend says that indoor temps in their house commonly drop below 40°F in the middle of winter.  His wife, like me, gets cold easily, so she has learned to wear a LOT of layers in the winter, and they all have nice thick blankets.

[Scott5114]

Windows with awnings.

I will never understand why these stopped being a thing. If the windows at my house were shaded by awnings, it would cut down on how much heat got in the house by quite a lot.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm always comfortable in both houses down in Jalisco.  Those older adobe homes are perfectly designed to minimize the intrusion of unnecessary heat.  Even when it is in the high 90F range outside it is at least around 80F inside both houses in the middle of the day. 

[kphoger]

I'm always comfortable in both houses down in Jalisco.  Those older adobe homes are perfectly designed to minimize the intrusion of unnecessary heat.  Even when it is in the high 90F range outside it is at least around 80F inside both houses in the middle of the day. 

The catch is that, if upper 70s is still too warm for you to sleep comfortably, then they're basically an oven and only very gradually cool down.  By 4 am, it might be right where you want it.