Air Conditioning, Climatic Control – House Thermal Management in Lowell during my Youth
1) Small, tiny, automobile fan in kitchen – when held up to your face, it might cool off your nose
2) Keep house dark on hot summer days – all shades were pulled down
3) Open all windows to the “cooler” outside air at night – you might get a cross breeze
4) Use roll-out, sticky fly paper to catch those flies. This was stuck to the ceiling & not attractive
5) Play in shade of the maple and chestnut trees when the Dana Street sizzle became too much
6) Go play baseball at McPherson’s off Richardson Road in the early part of the day
7) Greet the iceman on Dana – vendors did not usually stop their carts on Ludlam
8) Greet the milkman on Dana – again, vendors did not usually stop their carts on Ludlam
9) Rag-man and fresh vegetable/fruit vendor would also drop by to curb the muggy boredom
10) Climb those two trees – the chestnut tree was quite a challenge – to observe the scene of sweating people below
11) Prepare a large pot of iced coffee – not iced tea – in the early morn so visiting adults might cool off at the kitchen table
12) Get yourself an “Orange Crush” or Root Beer” soda pop at Harry’s store across the street
13) Open Tee-shirts and shorts were the dress of the day.
14) After supper, sit with other tired friends on the long side porch facing Dana St. until 9: 00 PM wondering why the Red Sox were so poorly matched against the NY Yankees again this year
15) Early to bed to face yet another warm and moist, New England clam chowder kind of day, tomorrow
Finally, be happy, before your night prayers, that everything went so well for everyone, again, today