How Do You Feel Today? v4

[SoulBiter]

Most of the US tends to have AC so when its that hot at night, we just turn the AC down. Funny what you can get used to though. When I grew up we didn't have AC and had to run fans in the windows to get a cross breeze. Fast forward 45 years and I keep my house at 70F at night in the summer.

[Fist and Faith]

Yeah, we just had fans, too.

[Linna Heartbooger]

Most of the US tends to have AC so when its that hot at night, we just turn the AC down. Funny what you can get used to though. When I grew up we didn't have AC and had to run fans in the windows to get a cross breeze. Fast forward 45 years and I keep my house at 70F at night in the summer.

My family was big on the "using a fan(s) to get a cross-breeze!

Soooo... ABOUT most of the US tending to have AC:
This past summer, I traveled back home to Arkansas. The temperatures were in the 90's and 100's F. (or effectively that, when you account for "feels like." or something.) Everyone there relies on AC, it seems.

But me... I had recently heard an online friend tell a story how... awhile back, when he and his unit returned from Afghanistan, the plane lands, they get out, and.. like... everyone is shivering violently from the cold temperatures, teeth chattering, etc. What was the temperature?
55 degrees F.

But... apparently the body acclimates in about 2 or 3 weeks? So when I was in Arkansas, I decided not to rely on AC... if I could help it. I don't turn AC on in the car, I go outside and walk a ton. So here I am, pretty comfortable with 90+ degree days.
LITERALLY everyone else around me relies on AC though; they see me & worry for me when this crazy lady "who must be boiling up" is tutoring on the laptop, outdoors, under a shady awning / sun-umbrella.

[Iolanthe]

We don't have AC, some shops do though. I suppose I could go and stand by the fridges in Sainsburys to keep cool. I do have a medium sized fan at home that I can point towards me, and believe me I did have it on the day it reached 105!

[peter]

I find humidity to be more problematic than actual temperature. These hot and heavy days where the air is 'wet' in your lungs.

But getting back to the actual heat, I have a limited liking for AC. There is something 'electrical' about the feel of it - though don't get me wrong, to walk into an air conditioned environment out of the heat of the day can be lovely. But I like my temperatures like my politics - middle of the road!

[Avatar]

AC in residential properties here is not common. It's not exactly rare[]/i], but far fewer people have it than not.

We just, y'know, live with the heat. (Can't wait for spring to be properly sprung...it's not exactly freezing anymore, but it's not really warm yet either.) (Especially in my flat, which is damn cold. )

--A

[peter]

Looks like we are going to be just living with the cold (or not) this winter too Av! I'm working out how best to stay warm against a fuel price rise that looks like hitting three or four hundred percent before its over. Thinking thermal clothing and the best heating foods and heating only one room in the house. Sad way to finish after a life's work, but hey - I grew up in houses like this. We survive.

[Avatar]

Honestly I'm a bit hazy on how the whole energy cap thing you have works? (I've seen the 80% increase etc. but...does it represent a max annual cost or what?)

(And yes, fair enough, at least in sub-tropical climes winter heating is not much of an issue...I mean, it feels cold, but when I say "cold" I'm thinking along the lines of around 0C min and 13C max, give or take a couple degrees.

Of course, also in my opinion heat is easier to deal with than cold.

--A

[SoulBiter]

If you live in a dry area (desert) then you could always use a "Swamp cooler". We had those as a kid when we lived in New Mexico. You could mist some water on the evaporator and it would automatically start cooling things down. Not as good as AC but much less costly to run. Only really works in dry climates because it needs the evaporation effect.

[peter]

Honestly I'm a bit hazy on how the whole energy cap thing you have works? (I've seen the 80% increase etc. but...does it represent a max annual cost or what?)

(And yes, fair enough, at least in sub-tropical climes winter heating is not much of an issue...I mean, it feels cold, but when I say "cold" I'm thinking along the lines of around 0C min and 13C max, give or take a couple degrees.

Of course, also in my opinion heat is easier to deal with than cold.

--A

No, it's a unit cost cap Av. There is no upper max on bill size, which is calculated on consumption. Poses a real problem for low income families or those with disabilities that demand utilisation of equipment with high energy consumption.

How the cap is calculated is very complicated, but it is being reviewed on a three-monthly basis now - and is forecast to go up to over six thousand pounds a year (that's the annual cost of energy in the average UK household) over the course of the next couple of revisions. That's up by over six hundred percent in less than a year. It's going to blitz many families back into the stone age.

[SoulBiter]

Holy crap. That's about $425 USD per month. I live in large house with a basement, main level, upper level, and my bill isn't that high.

[peter]

No kidding SoulBiter, we are in deep crap. It's starting to get home to people that even in full time work on greater than minimum wage, they still are not going to be able to meet their costs (because remember, everything else is increasing in price at a rapid rate as well - not just energy) without recourse to their credit cards. When they run out of credit or savings - and half of all households have less than fifteen hundred dollars put aside - then the house of cards collapses.

Our Government blew it big time.

[Avatar]

Damn. I use a comparatively high amount of electricity (for a 2-bedroom flat) and I'm still below the equivalent of 100 pounds (or dollars for that matter) a month. And that's after several years of (what we consider usurious) increases...

(Of course, thanks to the state of our power generation infrastructure, we've also had power cuts on somewhere around 100 days this year, so...swings and roundabouts...of course, the utility company says if we paid more, we'd be better able to afford infrastructure improvements too...)

--A

[Menolly]

Rabbit
Rabbit!
Rabbit!!

[MsMary]

But why?

[Avatar]

Some weird superstition apparently.

--A

[MsMary]

[Avatar]

I feel like...it's Monday...

--A

[Menolly]

Happy National Elephant Day!

[Menolly]

Walked into work today, a substitute job for an office manager of a middle school, and they were doing the new Pfizer booster vaccine for staff. I asked if subs qualified, and several of the staff, knowing my medical history of fighting three different cancers, made certain it happened.

Five vaccines down, who knows how many more to go.

Kept working my arm throughout the day and drank lots of water. Felt good until an hour after coming home. Now I have chills which won't quit