Icy Fingers of Death (Stories From the 70's Part III)

       It was a blazing hot Summer day sometime in the 1970's.  It could have been when I was four in July 1975 or it could have been me at eight in the last glorious Summer of the waning 70's in 1979, one thing was a constant.

     It would be a July day and it would be blazing!  I guess in what part of the country you live at what is hot varies.  I recall being in 120 degrees in Fort Irwin, Calif and not thinking it was that bad.  Where I grew up in Ohio if it got to 90 something and the humidity was up there as well, it might as well been one those places our Dad's told us about from their time on some remote island in the Pacific during The War.  It was hot and there was no escape from it.  

    So on one of those days I get to ride along and go shopping with Mum or Day.  I get out of the '67 Dodge Coronet and walk across the asphalt to get to the door of the local A&P (Which will be gone by 1977, or sooner?).  Stepping on the rubber pressure mat flings the doors open with brute force.  The doors don't just open at a gradual pace like modern doors do today, there was violence in the way these things would open.

   After getting past the opening, two things strike you.  First would be that a song like "Theme to a Summer Place" (yes I have brought that song up a few times before...) playing on the PA system.  The other thing that would knock you to your knees was the blast of cold air.  I'm not talking just walking into to place that is slightly cooler.  No, this was a blast from the Polar Regions.  The air conditioning was meant to kill you and freeze the remains!!!  I don't think I really can explain how effective 1970's air conditioning was?

     I was a very skinning child and had no fat reserves to act as insulation at all.  Within minutes I was a shivering mess and wanted another more to go outside and get baked again.  Please give me the heat again!!!  Going out to eat in the dead of Summer was a rotation of wanting to get out of the heat to being frozen and yearning to get back out to the heat of the outdoors.  My Mum soon started taking a jacket or sweatshirt for me when we'd go somewhere.

    We had no air condoning at our home and none in our cars at that time.  We sure could have afforded them, just never was a priority.  Parents of my generation grew up in the Depression and many of our Dad's had been in blazing climates during their time in The War, so they were a bloody tough lot and did not justify "wasting" money on things like that.  We had fans that doubled as automatic weapons (inside joke) and that was good enough.  I don't ever remember the inside of the house being overly hot.  

    Anyway, once a year we would have visitor from Kansas City.  They had air conditioning  in their car and going for a ride with them was a dreadful ride in a morgue on wheels.  They would have the air conditioning cranked up to 11.  I still look back on that and have a reaction.  

     In short...the air condoning of the 1970's worked!!!  And it was always on full blast!!!

    Fast forward to 2023...  In the middle of Summer it will be in the 90's and I will be wearing or at least having one with me, a heavy hooded sweatshirt.  Being a 1970's child has ingrained that habit in me.  In today's world almost everywhere is air conditioned.  We get in and out of our cars, then walk 50 yards to a place that is air conditioned.  Unless you spend a lot of time outside, a lot of people barley feel the heat of Summer.  Even today, I have to have a sweatshirt with me, I just can't go without one.  

   It seems that the air conditioning in cars and buildings is a lot less effective than it was in the past?  My Wife can't be in a car without it and it is not nearly as cold as it was in the past.  I still take a sweatshirt with me because it is a habit now.  Even today I have a car with air conditioning and have it on, mainly to block out the noise of the city I live in.  I do miss driving with the windows down though.  

   One more topic before I close this episode...  As for air conditioning and cars...  My first car was four years older than I am, it was made in 1967.  It did not have air conditioning, but it had vents under the dash and it had side vent windows.  If you in forward motion, even on the hottest days it was not that hot in the car.  I never had had a major problem.  One more side track...my Wife likes the '67 Mustang I recently bought, that was until she found out it does not have air conditioning...  Oh well, that will go away after the first ride.