I hereby propose that air conditioning is the single cause of the modern age of prosperity.
Let me explain. Recently our air conditioner suffered a little problem, which naturally only happens when the temperature reaches into the absurd, like it did recently in Ottawa. If felt like an eternity of way above average temperatures, reaching 40C with the humidity. Anyway, I happened to be on holidays for most of the heat wave, which may be a good thing most times, but seemed to hinder our activities due to the crazy heat. Anyway, when the air conditioning died in the house, needless to say I called the repair guy immediately. Also, finding out that there would be a long delay before anybody showed up was also not much of a surprise.
So I was left to contemplate the fact that my thermostat in the hallway read 30C, with every window open in the house, and the outside humidity approaching 94%. Several things came to my mind slowly over the next 48 or 60 hours before we had AC again (the humanity!). First off, beer tastes much better when you are being slowly cooked alive in your own home (good thing I was on holidays). Second, sustained heat does something to your brain where any drive you may have to get things done just melts right away. You just can’t put two thoughts together, no matter what you do. So, combine those two things and you have the basis for my hard-won theory that air-conditioning brought us to our current level of prosperity, not the other way around.
However, one notable exception to this rule is Nikki. As I have mentioned before, she is thermally challenged at the best of times. So when I was literally reduced to a drooling moron affixed to a chair, she was more and more comfortable. Her skin was literally cool to the touch at 30C. She said more than once how comfortable she was, and was not very sympathetic to my grumbling and complaints. I may have mumbled something about how that isn’t natural, and that she may be a robot, or something like that. I can’t recall now since I was more or less sweating beer by this point.
This post would have had a stunningly crafted conclusion if it wasn’t mostly written while my brain was turned off. You get the point, right? Right?
Don’t take your AC for granted, people.