377 days - Blog #30, when I resort to the topic of weather

Today was a bit sultry.  I actually didn’t notice much of it, as I was in my chill box of an office until just after 5pm, at which point I left Worcester and headed towards a very ominous looking sky.  Somewhere near the Holden line, a few drops splattered across my windshield.  By the time I got to Sunnyside Motors, it was an all out downpour.  The temperature dropped 15 degrees from the time I got into my car to the point I scurried out of it.

But now… the house is still hot.  So I have a fan standing beside me trying to pull in that cooler air from outside. 

And I realize, this summer wasn’t that bad.  I’m not going to complain.

I mean, I’ve spent many a hotter afternoon giving a tour or two or half because the upstairs was just too brutal through the stuffy rooms of Beauport in the summer.  Only to go home to my Newton apartments that had no AC but all the splendid Victorian insulation that kept the heat in (a trick that only seemed to work in the summer).  But I got over it, with a good fan or two, a frozen dishtowel to wrap around my neck, and a very cold shower with which to bid goodnight to the day.  The only drag were the days when our Washington Park place lost power from all those old houses draining the power lines with air conditioners.  I remember many an evening walking up and down that spiral staircase by candlelight.  It was romantic for about a half hour.  Then it just got hot and miserable… and provided a much needed dose of perspective.

I experienced a similar reminder at the start of spring, when I got home to a darkened house.  It was still cold enough to justify lighting my woodstove for a burst of light.  But I still had to accompany it with ten of my dining room candles and random votives to get good enough light for writing in my journal, the only way I could entertain myself in the dark.  Exciting.  I know.

I try to remind myself of these things when I want to complain about the weather or get some ignorant romantic thought about how much ‘better’ the past was.  No flushing toilets?  Um, yeah, I think we can agree that yesteryear was lacking without that.  Or heat that extended beyond the fireplace.

That was something I really appreciated that winter of 2008 when Central Mass was gripped by an ice storm.  I was still living in Newton then, but came out this way to scoop freezing water out of my parents’ basement when the power stopped the sump pump from working.  Only to huddle around that fireplace as the sun went down… when I realized… yeah, cold without central heating is REALLY COLD.

It leant a whole new appreciation to Jane Eyre when she has to crack the ice off the water basin in the morning to wash her face…

… which was something that crossed my mind at a point with all the ice water dumping videos.  I’m not going any further except to say, wow… isn’t it interesting that we now live in a time when dumping freezing cold water on ourselves is an option? 

I used to run when I lived in Newton.  Especially in those hot summers.  I remember getting up at 5am to get the least of the humidity.  And… the funny thing is when I did that, I felt the oppression of the summer less.  Granted I got to spend the rest of the day in air conditioning.  But going out and breathing and sweating in the heat made enduring it a lot easier than the summers when I just sit around and complain about how gross it is.

On the flip side, the cold bothers me less when I go outside and shovel snow for an hour or two or three.  Obviously I warmed up my body… but I also just exposed myself to the chill without cranking the heat up, which I don’t do anyway because I am, afterall, a Brennan.

Technology is a wonderful thing, certainly.  And I make use of the temperature control in my car very liberally.  But… sometimes I wonder if the convenience of modern adjustment makes us feeble in what we are willing to endure.

Like one day at the end of August when it is 90 degrees for a couple of hours before a thunderstorm washes it all away.