sophiaserpentia | (no subject)

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new england

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One of the worst things, IMO and IME, about living in New England, is the puritan ethic against air conditioning.

It was 94º in Cambridge today. In the South, when it reaches 94º -- no problemo, we got air conditioning! We'll just crank that sucker up and you'll be comfy in no time.

Here? It's like there's a pathological hatred of A/C. Everyone *has* it, they just don't like to use it. I guess they think sweltering is good for the soul. I spent a whole day in my office sweltering, for no good reason that i could discern, only to leave the office and climb on a bus which was... also sweltering, for no good reason. I know they have A/C in both my office building and in all the buses, because in the past on some occasions they have actually used them. But never consistently. I wonder if people here use A/C and then feel like they have to pray for their sins at confessional next week. Even moving air seems to be an indulgence.

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They're slow to turn on the AC here as well. I thought it was cause the temperature wavers so much at first that it would be a lot of trouble to switch back and forth from heating to AC.

I realize that people are just happy it's not snowing anymore, but come on, can't they be happy about that *and* crank the A/C when it gets above, oh, 80º?

Oh I totally agree. If I was in control, I'd switch it over and just put on an extra layer if it gets cool again.

Amen. There's nothing worse than dealing with a 30 degree temperature shift in less than a week.

As far as I've seen, there's a related phenomenon of apartments that are so poorly insulated that turning on the AC is virtually a futile endeavor. So far this year, both winter and summer have occurred effectively within my room, and I would actually be much cooler were I in Miami, where we're generally prepared for this thing called climate. It's actually warmer in here, all day, than it is outside.

Hopefully this is just a side-effect of my housing situation and not a widespread issue -- people keep telling me I need to move to a better location, but easier said than done, of course.

I don't like AC because I think it's usually set to be WAY too cold, and I don't adjust well to moving between really hot and really cold environments (this actually made me sick a couple summers ago, when I went from no AC and 100+ weather for a month to a hotel for a weekend). Hate New England winter for the same reason, the buildings are always overheated. But I think a lot of the time the temperature in offices and public transport is set based on calendar date, so when there's an early heat wave or cold snap it can take a week or more to catch on.

This is a legitimate complaint. A bus or office doesn't need to be as cold as a meat locker. Just, you know, cooler than "wiping sweat from my forehead while trying to sit in my cube and work" temperature.

Santa Barbara was the same way. AC is seen as a decadent affectation that only comes into town with the tourists. Inside those 50 year old tract homes it gets plenty hot and stuffy but I guess if you paid $800k to live there then you need to believe the weather is perfect.

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If that's what floats your boat. I'm happy with the house being nice & cool during the winter, but i understand that i'm weird that way.

Guilty as charged! I hate A/C. It gives me migraines... deep-seeded migraines that linger on and off for months at a time. I am so, so glad I live somewhere where I can just escape to the beach for some relief.

If it causes problems like that, i can certainly understand not wanting to be near it.

I'm kind of the opposite: if i get too warm, i tend to get headachey, at least until i get acclimatized to the new temperature, which takes me about a week.

My philosophy is that it's always okay to hate something if it causes you pain.

I don't care for Boston-flavor heat either, actually. Coastal heat is much more to my liking.

To be fair, a lot of people down here tend to treat air heating that way... oh, just freeze at 60! It will be back to 80 in no time!!!! kind of thing.

Yeah. Honestly i spent more time (in terms of minutes and hours of duration) feeling cold and shivering in New Orleans because when it *did* get cold, for the month or so that it does there, i didn't have warm enough clothing or adequate heating.

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