Friday, June 22, 2012

20120622.1004

Everybody complains about the weather...

Summer has definitely arrived in The City.  The past few days have seen high temperatures in the upper 90s--that would be the mid- to upper 30s for those of you working in Celsius--and that range counts as "hot" even in the Texas Hill Country and southwest Louisiana.  Like the latter, the humidity has been up, as well, so it has hardly been the most pleasant of times to be outside.

The problem is compounded by the lack of good air conditioning in The City.  Many of the buildings are older--indeed, "prewar" construction is eagerly sought-after--and I well understand that it is prohibitively expensive to retrofit such buildings with such amenities as central air.  But new construction all too often lacks it, as well, and I continue to be boggled by it.

Even so, this is one of many times I am glad to have lived as long in the South and into the Southwest as I have.  Growing up there exposed me to the kind of heat that is happening now and that flusters New Yorkers as a matter of course, and for months at a time; I am, as much as a person can be, used to it.  (Indeed, while I was at graduate school in southwest Louisiana, I would often be outside on campus in collared shirt and dark pants, and I was not inhibited by it.)

I get along fairly decently here.  But I do so largely because of my experiences elsewhere.  Despite what many native New Yorkers believe, there is much that is worthwhile outside of The City.

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