I was in a meeting yesterday with a bunch of Brits; I joked St. Louis and London had swapped weather for the summer. Europe has had a scorching summer; in St. Louis it’s been a fairly mild one. I know we scoff when the all time record for London is 100 degrees F, but as the Brits pointed out, nobody has airconditioning at home, at work or in their cars. So I have to sympathize with them over their plight. I experience it evertime I visit my parents, because my mother dislikes airconditioning so much it’s only turned on when the temperature courts 100 degrees.
One of my older co-workers pointed out that he’d lived here without airconditioning for many a year; I was a kid when we got AC at home, and I can remember the worry that it would keep us kids from playing outdoors in the summer. It didn’t – we were happier having fun in the heat than being bored in the cool; but I think electronic games and cable TV channels aimed at children have to a large degree kept kids from playing outdoors (plus parents aren’t as carefree with their kids as they once were.) When I was growing up, there were no electronic games; and the only programing aimed at kids were cartoons on Saturday mornings and old TV shows (think Nick at Night and TV land) on weekday afternoons on channel 11, the only non-network station in St. Louis. That was it. I grew up on humor originally aimed at adults – Green Acres, Gilligan’s Island, F Troop, Petticoat Junction – shows that I was amazed to later discover were actually on network TV in primetime. Now kids can stay cocooned in their own age appropriate programming in the airconditioned comfort of their own homes. I’m sure it is their ruination. That and organized sports outside of school.
