REFLECTIONS "Growing up in the 50's" CHAPTER 14- That's Cool

Nostalgia Tidbit : In the 50s there was no air conditioning in the home or car, at least none that we knew about, so you cooled off  as creatively as you could.

                                                                         Chapter 14

 That’s Cool

On a hot summer day in Central Florida in the 1950’s I

can remember how creative we tried to be in finding  

ways to cool off. With no air conditioning in the home

or in the car, it was a challenge. You couldn’t even go

to the Mall to cool down because they didn’t exist. I

don’t remember any stores even having A/C either.

Perhaps they had some big circulating fans that stirred

the hot air.

Still, hot is hot!

Luckily, we had a lake about a mile away, so we often

walked or rode our bikes over to take a dip.

 Back then, you actually felt comfortable swimming in

a fresh water lake with never a thought of gators,

snakes, amoebas and slime. I’m sure they were present

but it never crossed our minds.

.

We were too busy “cooling off”. Some creative ways

to cool off were to ride in the car “fast” with windows

down and hanging out up to the waist. That had a little

numbing effect as well. Standing in front of the

refrigerator with the door open worked nicely but we

could only get away with that for very short periods of

time. Sometimes, I would even think if I rode my bike

fast enough or ran fast enough, I could create a cool

breeze. Of course, that back fired on me.

Finally, one summer day, this wonderful appliance

became a part of our household. It was an electric fan.

While it wasn’t a monster of a fan, it was nevertheless

“a fan”! It was actually pretty small with a

circumference of about twelve inches. Still, it stirred

up the air in the living room. Circulating hot air is still

better than stale hot air.

I can still see us on a hot night with Dad lying on the

couch, Mom sitting in the chair and the three of us on

the floor as close to the fan’s breeze as possible

soaking up every moment of semi-coolness. I’m sure

we were often blocking the air flow to Mom and Dad

but I really don’t remember them

complaining….maybe they did. Selective memory is

good at times. 

It was still many years before we were able to

experience the wonder of air conditioning. I do know

that even while in high school in the early 60’s, my

school was not air conditioned. As I recall, I think we

had that fan for many years.

As we fast forward to nowadays, I must leave my

air conditioned house to get in my air conditioned car

to go to the air conditioned grocery store and then off

to the air conditioned mall.

Wow, it sure is hot outside!