When I returned to Boston exactly one month ago today, it was a chilly 40 degrees and rainy. This was a most welcome respite from the litany of 90 degree plus days I experienced during my last week in Atlanta.
I have been experiencing 80 degree plus days consistently since the end of February and I am sick of it. I cannot wait for autumn. I'm sure I would have struggled mightily had I spent the summer in Georgia. Yet homes in Atlanta have something that most homes in Boston don't - central air conditioning. However uncomfortable it might have been outside I would have found instant relief inside.
The same cannot be said of the house I now call home in Cambridge. If I go outside my room the temperature is 95 degrees. Thank goodness a friend assisted me in installing an air conditioner in my room last week. I did have an offer of a free air conditioner from another friend but Lords know when I would have been able to get my hands on it let alone get it installed. So I spent more than $150 for one down at the neighborhood grocery store and somehow lugged it back here on my own. I'm glad I did it because I shudder to think how miserable I would be if I didn't have one right now. Let's just hope there aren't any power outages this summer. Fingers, toes and other appendages crossed.
Air conditioners are often maligned for exacerbating climate change. It is said that in cooling our homes we are heating the outside. But absent a viable alternative you have a Catch-22. The only thing pure about the Arctic Air Pure Chill is that it is pure bullshit. It's a glorified high maintenance fan. Ceiling fans are OK but sometimes all they do is recirculate hot air.
There are many modern conveniences which have improved our way of life (i.e. washers/dryers, microwaves, mobile phones, etc.) But my favorite of all are air conditioners. Few things in life feel better than the blast of cool air when entering a building be it the grocery store, the office and, thank goodness, my room.
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