Climate Change? Nahhh ...

I think aside from hotels and major tourist areas, Europe is far behind the US in terms of air conditioning.

 

Or that eco-terrorists were killing the cows and setting fire to the processing plants to cause a global food shortage. I swear, I don’t know how some of that stuff shows up in my TL.

 

There are large swaths of this country that would be uninhabitable without air conditioning. Frankly, I have no idea how people lived in places like Texas, Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida for 150 years without it.
And knowing how bad I sweat and stink after a few hours out in the sun, I can't imagine how bad the world smelled in 1880.

 

Isn't there a theory that Europe could become colder because melting icecaps will make the North Atlantic colder pushing down the Gulf Stream?

 

At least then you'll stand a chance of finding ice cubes at a German hotel.

 

Couldn't prove it right now. My daughter in Bordeaux called earlier. It's 107 degrees there today.

 

I was there, too. Miserable. After London, I went to Brussels and Bruges and it was even worse there, with even less A/C than London. And worse than that was Paris in July 2018 during a heatwave there. The only place that reliably had A/C up to US standards was the store Zara. I spent a lot of time in Zara. We are so spoiled here.

 

Our Christmas present for Hope was the money to buy an air conditioner. In a major stroke of luck, it was delivered last weekend. Her comment today was, "it's putting up a good fight, but it's outmatched right now."

 

Most houses in Europe are built with thick walls to hold the heat in during winter and keep it out in the summer. Most of the time AC is not needed because in Germany, 80ºF is a typical warm day in summer and the windows open.

But it can get hot at times. Hottest I ever saw it get when I was there was 35ºC (95ºF). Followed by a thunderstorm that rivaled anything in Oklahoma.

 

It was central heat and air that helped contribute to longer lifespans in Britain. You can look it up.

 

I rented an AirBnB that was over a pub in New Cross Gate. No AC. One big window that opened above the pub's courtyard. Could barely sleep the first night there. Had to run down the Sainsbury's to buy an oscillating fan, which I left for a future guest because what use was I going to have of a fan with a British plug?

 

And here I thought it was keeping Germany from invading France every 30 or so years. (Going for the cheap laugh, sorry.)

Not surprisingly, Montreal is not a good place for hot and stifling weather. It was over 90 degrees F for one of the NASCAR Busch races there.

Old Montreal was definitely not comfortable, and when you're sweating while eating dinner at one of Montreal's wonderful al fresco cafes, you can only imagine what it's like in the kitchen.