The Central Heating's Bust

[poliphilo]

I was born in another age. We were reasonably well to do but we didn't have central heating until I was about twelve. Before then we made do with electric heaters and open fires. You moved from hot spot to hot spot through great gaps of cold. And even when you were within the aura of a heat source the side of you facing it would be warm and the other side freezing.

I'd get into bed on a winter's evening and it'd be like slipping between sheets of ice. I had a hot water bottle in a red, knitted jacket. I hardly dared move because the only patch of the bed that was the least bit warm was the bit in direct contact with my body. 

And just as winter could be bone-numbingly cold, so summer was sometimes insupportably hot.  Central heating and air conditioning have blanded out the year. The seasons have become a lot less noticeable. Our homes and offices and cars are climate controlled. Those of us who don't work outside- which is most of us- can dodge the extremes. In the past there was no escape.
 
You know what? I think we've lost something. 

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Maybe, but until three years ago we didn't have a heating or cooling system in our house and as we got older we just couldn't handle the damp cold of Seville winters with only space heaters and a fireplace despite wearing layers of clothing. We're much more comfortable now and we never set the heat high or the cold very cold...just enough to take the unbearable edge off whichever season it is. Summer here is horribly extreme and the AC has at least made it tolerable.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Seville is cold and damp in winter? That's not at all what I'd have thought.

I'm not really advocating a return to the past. I just reckon there's always a price to be paid for progress.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I guess I should clarify. In the old days, Seville was always quite rainy in winter (our wet season is October-January or so traditionally). Global warming has changed that and we've had a run of mild and dry winters but it's still rather damp and chilly here although our temperatures rarely go below 10ºC in winter. The point I was trying to make (and didn't)is that houses here are built to withstand the heat, not the cold and an unheated house in the damp and chill of winter feels very cold indeed.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Your winters sound a lot like ours. Maybe a little warmer. Since climate change kicked in we've had little in the way of really cold weather, but lots and lots of rain.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

(and her fireplace is actually a waterfall! - or so I've read...)

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

You read right.
:P
And a very mysterious one at that. We can't figure out how Niagara is getting into the chimney.
:/