Italian Air Conditioning

"...in the end they were convinced of the merits of the Roman strategy against heat, which consists of closing houses during the lethargy of August in order to keep out the burning air from the street, and then opening them up completely to the night breezes..."  

from "Love In the Time of Cholera"
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

my Old Lady came across this passage recently.
It reminded her of my parents house in Georgetown.

I don't remember having Air Conditioning machines during the Summer,
until the end of the high school years,
maybe...
She reckons it was about the same in her parents' house.

What you did instead
was exactly what Marquez said
keep the doors & windows shut,
the blinds drawn.

It works.
but to think our ethnic slur
might actually have "merits" and history
is baffling
although I like the ring of "Roman strategy"

We have a unit in the apartment now,
but only use it under extreme circumstances
as we both prefer a cool breeze through an open window.

Much is made of technology and my generation
in a "My Generation Was the Last to ________" sort of way,
and I've been thinking about air conditioning lately...