“Activity conquers cold, but stillness conquers heat”
The other day I read an article where a woman of 65 was described as old. I was taken aback because I remember wanting to be old. I remember wanting to be sixteen. It seemed the perfect age. You could drive at sixteen, go to the movies at night and even sit in the balcony. Streetlights no longer set a curfew. I could go to bed when I wanted, and I wasn’t forced to eat vegetables. Life was getting more and more interesting. It’s funny how age becomes relative over time.
Air conditioning is being installed today. Most summers have been tolerable, but this summer was so humid that even reading a book caused me to sweat, and I refuse to go through that again. I wanted the air installed earlier, but it seems a huge number of people had also reached their boiling points, and I had to wait my turn.
When our choices are limited, we seem to be far more tolerant. I didn’t even have a fan in Ghana, in Bolga, and it got so hot a candle melted without ever being lit. I’d stand up from my living room chair and the imprint of my body would be left in sweat on the upholstery. I went to bed still dripping from my shower so the air and water would cool my body enough so I could fall asleep. I never complained. That was life in Bolga.
I have been back here far too long. I am now spoiled. My expectations are grand. I don’t need to be hot. I don’t need to be cold. Every discomfort has a solution.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: air-conditioning, Bolgatanga, getting older, Ghana, heat
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September 9, 2010 at 12:01 pm
In 1953, when I was six, my family moved from NYC to Texas. In those days air-conditioning was an expensive luxury in even in Texas. Most people had one window unit in a bedroom and houses were built with attic fans. My father and I were driving in our newly air-conditioned 1953 Buick in West Texas when we decided to stop at a small cafe in a small rural town for a cold drink. Sitting next to us at the counter was a middle aged farmer/rancher wearing a straw cowboy hat and he had a well weathered face and neck. My father asked the farmer, ‘How did you folks live here before air-conditioning?’ The farmer replied. “Son, it never used to get this hot.”
September 9, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Bob,
Your story gave me a chuckle! I think I’ll use that line-actually I think I already did.
This last summer was the hottest in a long while. I spent a good part of each day moaning and groaning about the heat as the sweat poured off my face. No more for me!
September 9, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Airconditioning is still very rare in homes up here in the north, but in offices and stores it´s quite common. But since we usually only have two or three hot weeks during summer we really have no need for it.
When I think of being old I think mostly on how people behave. So I know thirty years old persons that are far older than I am and 70years old persons that are far younger than I am 🙂 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
September 9, 2010 at 10:14 pm
Christer,
Given you’ve already had a frost, yours is about the shortest summer I know. It’s no wonder air conditioning is rare.
I know I’m not old-that’s more than enough for me.
September 9, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Glad you got some central air installed but my goodness I don’t think I got past the line about 65 being old. I think I’ll leave it there.
September 9, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Z&Me,
I nearly choked when I read that line!
The air conditioning is in, and now I want a rare September heat wave.
September 9, 2010 at 9:58 pm
I didn’t succumb to air conditioning in my car until 2004. Previous to that it was 2OWDLH. (Two open windows, drive like hell.) I didn’t have a/c in the house until 2007. Huge trees shaded the house all day so it stayed very cool in here. One by one the trees to the south and west came down. It got really hot with the sun beating down on the house all day. Central air is on my wish list along with some huge trees to replace the ones that are gone.
September 9, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Caryn,
I always buy used cars, and two cars ago the one I bought had air conditioning-I got hooked. The dog too is better in the air conditioning as she gets really hot in the heat. Quite a few days this summer I took her upstairs to the air conditioned bedroom to cool her down. She was panting enough to shake the whole bed but settled down in the cool.
I think the air conditioning has her vote too.
September 10, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Air conditioning saves gas when going at highway speeds. The open windows cause aerodynamic drag which must be overcome by increased engine RPM. The extra load of the air conditioning compressor requires less energy from the engine then the drag. In town at slower speeds the windows open saves gas.
September 10, 2010 at 12:12 am
Kat said:
It’s funny how age becomes relative over time.
I posit that age is ALWAYS relative. When we’re young, we reach a point where our relative age and self-assurance tells us that we can do anything.
When we have children, our age relative to theirs makes us sure that we always know and do what is right for them.
When we get somewhere between 70-90, we are sure that we have reached the peak of life’s wise gathering and nobody is wiser than we are.
But there comes a time that our relating becomes faulty and that signals the need for others to begin helping us again to carry on the details of daily life.
So, although everything is not relative, age is.
September 10, 2010 at 10:14 am
Rick,
Here I was meaning our perceptions of old age are relative to how old we are: when I was ten, old age was twenty; at twenty, it had moved to forty; at sixty I saw old, or rather older as that too changes, as eighty.
Age is most definitely relative.
September 10, 2010 at 7:44 am
love today’s story and the comment stories even more!
my grandfather lived until the age of 84, and i always said he was the wisest person i’d ever met. He’d smile and say no, no i’m not wise, i’ve just been around so long that i have seen everything a couple of times. Maybe that is the secret to wisdom, learning to recognize what you really already know. as for you being spoiled kat, i disagree; i think the one thing that comes with living long enough is the knowledge that you can’t take any of this with you, so you might as well use it up here!
love to everyone on this fine september morn
xoxoxoxoxoxooxox
September 10, 2010 at 10:16 am
splendid,
I loved my grandfather’s stories, and I regret never getting him to talk more often. I believe he is right about how we become wise. We just learn better over time.
Love to you, splendid
September 11, 2010 at 9:43 am
Bob,
I’m glad to know about the highway as I was always told that no matter where, air conditioning will cause me to use more gas.