There was a time before everything was air conditioned all of the time, that having air conditioning in a restaurant in Washington, DC and anyplace south of that, was a wonderful thing. You'd open a glass and aluminum door and a blast of artic air would welcome you inside. Your collar may have been damp. You'd certainly, in August, be sweating some. In the afternoon and right through to early evening would be a good time to be inside where it was cool. Have an ice tea, maybe. Put a few quarters in the juke box. Have a sandwich or a slice of cool pie. There'd be fewer flies in an air conditioned restaurant because the doors and windows would have to be kept closed. I think the cool air sort of stunned whatever flies got in anyway and they just quietly froze to death. Air conditioning was a good thing. A great leap forward in a battle again the weather. I remember our first house with Central Air. Oh, God, it was heaven. I remember all of this because today at 8AM the air conditioning was turned on in my subway car. The outside temperature was probably 50, but it had been 70+F degrees yesterday, warm for the beginning of April. I didn't really feel like the A.C. was all that necessary today. But, there you go. It's c-o-o-l inside!

Stumble It!