air conditioning

[David]

Lynda wrote:
> Silly question, this, but it bothers me.  If the houses on Privet 
Drive are 
> so "nice" and the owners so "particular," why do they have their 
windows open 
> on a hot day?  Don't houses like that have air conditioning?  I 
realize the 
> open windows help the plot a lot (letting owls in, letting Harry 
hear the news, 
> etc.) but still, if it's so hot, why not use a/c? 

Just adding my 2 knuts here.

I think part of the misunderstanding is the meaning of the 
word 'hot'.  The weather conditions of the first chapter of OOP 
would probably be in the mid-eighties Fahrenheit.  (That's high 
twenties C).  So when Canadians say, 'it's not the temperature per 
se, it's the humidity' and casually go on to mention that in Canada 
it doesn't get really hot, only in the high thirties, they are 
describing a different universe to Britan.  We *never* get 
temperatures in the high thirties. I think in most parts of the 
country the all-time record is around 90F/33C  In Britain 'hot' 
equates to 'pleasant' most of the time, and we like heat waves 
because they *allow* us to open our windows without freezing to 
death.

As somebody said, we are getting air conditioning more and more in 
offices now, because they do get sticky in summer, but in most homes 
even the two weeks of 'sweltering' weather (actually IMO we get more 
than two weeks of nice weather) still aren't really hot enough to 
make you wish you had it.

As for insects, sure, if you stay in the country you will get a few 
gnat bites in the summer.  In the cities, no.  Not worth bothering 
about, really.

David