Coping with the heat of summer.

remember the days? hell... ive only been able to pull a stool up to the bar for 12 months, and i havent ever lived with air conditioning.
a couple years ago while living back in ohio it was literally 106 degrees out for a week. we took cold showers, as cold as you could turn the knob. I could literally see the water evaporate off my body, and the towels were hot against my skin like they were fresh from the drier.

you sweat to deal with the heat. Drink ice tea so you have more to sweat. you skip meals to keep from throwing up. you lay naked before a fan, on the floor of your bed room under the window, and try to dream of snow. and then you hop in a combine and get the wheat in before it bursts into flames.

now i live in ny, and relief is only a walk away. The great thing about mountains is the spring fed creeks. the water is ALWAYS 50 something degrees, and it flows into the battenkill and no matter how shollow the river gets this time of year, as long as you can keep the leeches off the water always cools you down.

In britain au1929, it's not too much of a problem we are in the middle of summer now and as the temperature hurtles towards 57 degrees fahreneit we simply remove one of our cardigans. Problem solved.

We didn't invent scotch to get drunk we invented it to keep ****** warm.

To my way of thinking, when temperatures get in the 30+ Celsius range (upper 80's into 90's F), it's just as bad as winter with snow on the ground. As I get older, I find I can't tolerate the hotter temperatures anymore. Like everyone else when you're young, you lie around on the beach taking in the sun. The last time that I really enjoyed doing that was probably some 30 years ago.

How do I cope? Well, for someone who has an outside job, not great. I have to concentrate on the work and try not to think of the heat. At the end of the day, all I can think of is a shower.

At home, we don't have air conditioning, just lots of fans. Here, traditionally, August is the hotest month of the year. So, not looking forward to the next few weeks.

Don1
Today it promises to be in the high 90's and humid here in NY This has been a hot summers as hot summers go. However, with the proliferation of AC it is not the problem it once was.
I however, am old enough remember growing up without it. When people would sit out in the front of their houses till well into the night, sleep on firescape and what was lovingly referred to as tar beach [the roof]. Where a ride on the subway particularly during the rush hour was like trip in hell. Where the only relief was a ticket to the movie house[if you had the price or could sneak in.

i cant wait until iam old enough to remember forgotten things.

i think you should start a story telling thread about growing up.

my husbands uncle grew up in brooklyn and he has the most amazing stories to tell about the world war and the way things used to be.

BreatheThePoison wrote
I cant wait until I am old enough to remember forgotten things.


Don't rush. It may be fun to remember things long forgotten. But it is hell when you can't remember what you had for breakfast or if you have even had any.

lol.... words taken to heart.

I grew up without AC on Long Island, which can be very warm and humid. I could handle the daytime, but nights were hellish. I'd try to find a cool section of the sheets and pillow; that helped for a minute or two. When really desperate, I moved to a couch downstairs, where it was marginally cooler.

Lack of sleep was inevitable back then...

Some memories of that period have faded, but those summer nights are all to vivid!

i agree with d'artagnan, the days are bad but trying to sleep at night is almost impossible, until last year i'd lived 40 years with no home ac, luckily the home is constructed with stone and stays very cool in the summer (and due to rather old insulation very cool in the winter too

cooking meals in the heat is the absolute worst.

lots of fruit, salads, moisture food for me in the summer

Cope with the heat? I don't understand. Why would you "cope" with such great weather? You should be asking how we "enjoy" the heat. That makes more sense.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going out to sun myself on a rock.

Indeed sleeping was very difficult. However as I said going down into the subway on a very hot day was like descending into the bowels of Hades.

Eating spicy foods helps. Spicy hot enough to make you sweat, because when you sweat your body cools.

Tico
What than will you have to take to quell the fire within?

An iron constitution ... or lotsa agua -- which helps too. :wink:

Kicky says


Cope with the heat? I don't understand. Why would you "cope" with such great weather? You should be asking how we "enjoy" the heat. That makes more sense.

As he sits in front of his computer in an air conditioned room.