It's Hard to Think When It's So Hot

From where this blog originates, just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, air conditioning has never been a standard feature for residential housing. Given the rate at which temperatures seem to be rising in recent years, that may change in the future.

Within a few miles of the ocean, temperatures normally don't get any higher than 70 degrees or so, even when it is scorching hot inland. While it may be over a hundred degrees twenty miles to the east, it will be closer to 75 degrees on the coast.

[This can be a great source of entertainment if you invite "inland" friends to come out for the local fair in August. After having lived in triple digit heat for months, they arrive wearing shorts and flip-flops only to find themselves shivering at 9 PM when the fireworks go off and the temperature has dropped to the mid 50s.]

One of the real benefits to being so close to the water is that summer electric bills don't include the high cost of central air conditioning required to keep things cool. Having lived inland, summer electric bills that would come in three or four times higher than the amount paid during the winter were not unusual.

Such high cooling costs could be a source of friction within a household as the family member writing the check to the utility company at the end of the month could almost see dollar amounts on the thermostat, commensurate with the temperature setting.

With a cool ocean breeze and with no air conditioner in the house, the thermostat setting poses no such dilemma.

Hot Spells

The downside to living in a place such as this, especially in the last couple years, is that for a few brief periods during the summer the temperature can be quite uncomfortable - not so much because of the severity, but simply because you can't easily escape it.

Living here, it's natural to wonder why homes near the ocean come with a heater and no air conditioner since the length and severity of the cold spells have been less than those of the hot spells in recent years.

All the homes come with fireplaces and it's a lot easier to get a space heater than it is to install an air conditioner ... which brings us to the subject that stands as the only tenuous link between today's rambling essay and the standard fare at this blog.

In a cruel twist of fate, the local climate predicament is made even worse in this particular household, not because of any physical condition, but because of the irony.

Normally, when a situation like this arises, an industrious homeowner would find a remedy by either having central air conditioning installed or by figuring some way to get a window air conditioner into the hottest room or two, even if it requires poking a hole in a wall.

But, as a renter who temporarily exited the real estate market some time ago, options are limited.

Fans do little more than move the hot air around and portable air conditioners are too expensive. And, while the landlord could be contacted, he will not likely be sympathetic to this minor inconvenience - especially when considering the investment involved on his part.

So Close, Yet So Far

To make matters worse, having spotted an air conditioner at Costco a few weeks back that could be had for only $50 (yes, made in China), the opportunity was too good to pass up and it was brought home in the hope that it could somehow be installed and made to work in a house that has only vertical windows.

It now it sits in the garage, mocking its owner everytime he passes.

Where's the irony?

You see, led by the housing mania in the U.S. and factories in China, the booming world economy, while not solely responsible for global warming, certainly hasn't made the world any cooler. In decades past, cool ocean breezes would be sufficient to counter most any warm spell here on the Southern California coast, but it has become a less effective remedy with each passing year.

For those who succumbed to the recent real estate madness and purchased digs by the ocean, the solution is simple - if the expense of central air conditioning is prohibitive, buy a cheap Chinese air conditioner and knock a hole in the wall if necessary to cool the place.

But, for those who have resisted the real estate siren call of recent years there is little that can be done.

Aside from complaining at every opportunity, sitting amid inexpensive imported electronic equipment that only makes the temperatures go higher, there is nothing to do but wait it out.

It's hard to think when it's so hot.