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Old 06-22-2020, 04:58 PM
 
11,714 posts, read 7,904,568 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock View Post
At least there is air conditioning about everywhere you go, so unless you're working outdoors, it can't be that miserable. If you choose to spend your free time outdoors, it's really not all that hard to beat the heat.

Now if you are talking about hundred degree heat and no AC and no fan, that would qualify as miserable. There's a reason the Sunbelt didn't start to really boom until after the invention of indoor air conditioning.
I'm pretty certain just about every southern metro relies on AC but I do have to wonder how earlier people survived down here without AC. I personally couldn't do it.
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Old 06-23-2020, 10:44 AM
 
7,997 posts, read 10,378,641 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock View Post
At least there is air conditioning about everywhere you go, so unless you're working outdoors, it can't be that miserable. If you choose to spend your free time outdoors, it's really not all that hard to beat the heat.

Now if you are talking about hundred degree heat and no AC and no fan, that would qualify as miserable. There's a reason the Sunbelt didn't start to really boom until after the invention of indoor air conditioning.
To me, the absolute worst part is getting into your car after it's been sitting in a parking lot for 2 hours. No sunshade in the world will help with that. I even have remote start in my car, but it shuts off after 5 minutes. The a/c hasn't cooled down squat in those 5 minutes.

My kids used to tell me that it was "too hot to go swimming." And they weren't wrong. Pool was so warm (not heated) that it wasn't even refreshing.

The struggle is real.
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Old 06-23-2020, 11:57 AM
 
Location: 78745
4,495 posts, read 4,575,128 times
Reputation: 7996
Quote:
Originally Posted by Need4Camaro View Post
I'm pretty certain just about every southern metro relies on AC but I do have to wonder how earlier people survived down here without AC. I personally couldn't do it.
I wonder the same thing too. I also wonder how the people up North. survived the bitter cold temperatures and snowy winters before indoor heating, especially in places like North Dakota.

I think it is so much easier to keep cool in the summer than it is to keep warm in the winters. At least in the summer, even if it's 112 degrees outside, along as there is some water nearby, most likely a person will survive pretty easily. But if it's zero degrees outside, and a person is not prepared for it, it would be almost impossible to survive without some kind of shelter.

In todays modern world, the reason I prefer a warm climate is because you can just get up and go. In a cold climate it can be very time consuming process just to go outside because you have to dress in layers of 3, and that probably takes about 10 minutes. I know 10 minutes doesn't sound like a whole lot of time, but do it 2 or 3 times a day it gets to be real hassel, and undoing 2 layers to your normal clithing is a hassle, also. And then there's the occassionaly frequent chore of shoveling the overnight snowfall out of the driveway so you can get in your car and go to work and hope and pray you don't get stuck in the snow or slide off the road and the car turns over and rolls down an enbankment into a ditch. I had that happen to me in a 1968 Volswagen the last year I lived in Indiana. Luckily I landed right side up and I was able to drive off like nothing happened. Those Volkswagen Bugs really were some amazing cars.
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Old 06-23-2020, 12:10 PM
 
Location: 78745
4,495 posts, read 4,575,128 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CarnivalGal View Post
To me, the absolute worst part is getting into your car after it's been sitting in a parking lot for 2 hours. No sunshade in the world will help with that. I even have remote start in my car, but it shuts off after 5 minutes. The a/c hasn't cooled down squat in those 5 minutes.

My kids used to tell me that it was "too hot to go swimming." And they weren't wrong. Pool was so warm (not heated) that it wasn't even refreshing.

The struggle is real.
I know. Cars can get unbearably hot. I always park my car under a tree in the yard instead of the direct sun in the driveway. It keeps the car much cooler and it's easier on the paint job, but it comes with a cost - I get alot of pollen on the car and alot more bird droppings, but the car is probably 20 to 30 degrees cooler than if it was in the driveway, so I suppose it's worth it.

I almost always have a non-alcoholic cold drink with me. That always helps to keep me cooled off. Lemonade, sweet tea, Topo Chico mineral water, are all very refreshing on a hot day.
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Old 06-23-2020, 01:16 PM
 
11,714 posts, read 7,904,568 times
Reputation: 9827
Quote:
Originally Posted by CarnivalGal View Post
To me, the absolute worst part is getting into your car after it's been sitting in a parking lot for 2 hours. No sunshade in the world will help with that. I even have remote start in my car, but it shuts off after 5 minutes. The a/c hasn't cooled down squat in those 5 minutes.

My kids used to tell me that it was "too hot to go swimming." And they weren't wrong. Pool was so warm (not heated) that it wasn't even refreshing.

The struggle is real.
This is why I seek parking garages in the warmer months... ...That and those annoying Grackles
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Old 06-23-2020, 06:39 PM
 
Location: Chicago, IL
1,343 posts, read 1,361,837 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Need4Camaro View Post
I do have to wonder how earlier people survived down here without AC. I personally couldn't do it.

My mother, born in 1926, grew up in Texas and Oklahoma. She said it was definitely hot, but not as hot as it was when she would come visit me and other relatives in Austin in the 1990s /2000s. (She moved north in her mid-20s.) She said that when she was growing up, it was news when the temp hit 100 degrees. I suspect that all the roads, asphalt, buildings, and hardscapes have all contributed to making the hot that much hotter.

I still think it was really, really hot without a/c, don't get me wrong. But I think it might not have been the same as it is now.
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Old 06-26-2020, 11:00 AM
 
Location: central Austin
7,228 posts, read 16,064,895 times
Reputation: 3915
Second page of this thread took an unexpected turn! But before AC, very few people lived in Texas or other parts of the Sun Belt, you lived here if you were born here and that was about it!
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