Escape the heat, but beware of frostbite
By Beth Teitell
Boston Herald Columnist
Thursday, August 3, 2006
I don’t know if I can take another Boston summer. It’s too cold. Inside.
Officials are so focused on public pools and air-conditioned community centers that no one’s paying attention to the climactic threat faced by another uncomfortable segment of the population: the big chill.
Pity, if just for a moment, the beautiful people dining in fine restaurants and attending swanky ballroom weddings, the moviegoers seeing a double bill. They’re freezing.
In the office where I work, it’s colder in the summer than in the winter - when, of course, it’s too hot. And we wonder why we’re straining the energy grid. If I were being practical, I’d wear my new sleeveless top and light gauzy skirt in January, when I wouldn’t have to ruin the look with the ratty old sweater I’ve got jammed in my drawer.
By this point in the heat wave, the media’s bursting with keep-cool tips. Hydrate yourself, forgo vigorous outdoor activity, replace lost salt and minerals, wear sunblock to prevent a burn. You may even want to choose a ‘‘heat buddy” to keep tabs on you.
But the shivering masses are left to fend for themselves. So here’s some advice: When taking refuge at the movies, along with the outside food you’re sneaking in, smuggle in a parka, fleece socks and a hat, so you can actually pay attention to the film you’re paying a fortune to see. Alas, dressing comfortably for restaurants and social events is trickier, since you won’t have the cover of darkness on your side. You may want to take up smoking just to have an excuse to stand outside for a moment.
Why is it so cold indoors? Yesterday, huddled with my co-workers under the office shawl, I stuck my arm out from under the wrap and called the Association of Water Technologies and put the question to the president.
And who do you think is to blame for the problem? No, not your spouse. Well, maybe him or her, that louse who insists on freezing you out of your own home. But guess who else. Or, as I should say, what else.
‘‘The cooling is more for the equipment than the people,” AWT’s Jay Farmerie explained. ‘‘If computers get too hot they shut down.” (Like we don’t?) ‘‘That’s why they have fans in the back, to push the heat into the room. You may have one room with a high heat load and other with no heat load and if you don’t have room-regulated thermostats, what happens?”
You get a cold snap in the middle of a heat wave, that’s what.
