Re: Personal Note. OT.

On Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:59:56 +0000, Robin Bignall wrote:

On Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:40:43 GMT, the Omrud
<usenet.omrud@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

tony cooper wrote:
On Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:49:41 -0000, "Alan Jones"
<atj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Mike Barnes" <mikebarnes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:8qOZ4+H5BnIJFwLX@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In alt.usage.english, Don Aitken wrote:
On Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:10:00 +0000, Robin Bignall
<docrobin@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

All of this leads me to ask the obvious question: how many Brits in
the group have any form of air conditioning in their houses?
I'm fairly sure that I have never even been in an air-conditioned
house. Offices and other commercial premises yes, but never a house.
Ditto (in the UK). And as far as I know I've ever only been in one house
with warm-air heating, which was regarded by the owners as very poor.
Generally speaking British houses are well heated and appallingly
insulated.
My (UK) bungalow is of Swedish wood-frame construction, almost stiflingly
well insulated (triple glazing etc), and when the plans were being discussed
I was offered air-conditioning as an option. I turned it down partly because
of expense but also because I like open windows and doors in summer, which
is just when the air-conditioning would be most effectively used. There is a
ceiling extraction system fitted to some areas, to remove smells and steam.

Bugs have not been discussed in this thread, and they deserve mention.
There are certain times of the year when we, too, open the windows
instead of turning on the AC. Not without screens, though. Screens
are vital to Florida living.

I seem to remember, when being in the UK, that not only were the
windows open, but there were no screens on the windows. Perhaps I
just didn't pay attention, though.

I've never seen screens on a UK house window or door. One of those
confusing US lyrics only made sense to me when I first visited: "Late
last night I heard the screen door slam". We did, however, have them on
our caravan, which was designed for being dragged to southern Europe in
August where they were invaluable, as it was essential to keep the
windows open overnight.

When we moved to our (then) new house located halfway up the side of a
valley with the river Seine at the bottom, I found myself extremely
allergic (cross thread alert) to whatever type of mosquito they had
locally. The reaction was violent: my hands used to swell up so much
that I could barely drive, but we couldn't keep the windows shut in
the summer, and in any case mosquitos would get in somehow. (This
was, cross-fingers, the only time I've ever had a serious allergic
reaction to anything.) I fixed a two-metre vertical post to each
corner of the bed and spread a very large mosquito net over the whole
thing. Visitors probably thought I was a bit weird.

I had a similar experience in Hampshire lving near the River Test,
my arm swelled up and became very rigid, had to have a series of penicillin
shots to cure it.
.

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