And that person fails to realize that they can only handle Texas because Texas is air conditioned.
I live in Phoenix. It’s hot. 104 F/ 40 C and above is normal for summer hot. So hot that we remark that’s when the temperature dips before 100 F/ 38 C we remark on that being cool.
And the places that don’t get nearly as hot have people dropping in heat waves we wouldn’t consider hot at all. 82 F/ 28 C sounds like heaven and their historical worst ever is our Tuesday’s. But it isn’t the same.
Everywhere has air conditioning. If you rent and it goes out the landlord is required by law to fix it. If you own and it goes out and can’t afford the expensive replacement the government will pay for it. The government doesn’t want anyone to die of heat. For the same reason water is always given freely is asked. It used to be the law that it was illegal to refuse water to a person or his horse. It’s not actually illegal now but no one refuses water. We don’t want anyone to die.
We understand that heat can kill. We are trained hot the heat. Avoid going out in the heat, find somewhere to cool down, drink water, constantly, keep hydrated.
Inside buildings are kept frigid. Lawyers in hotel conference rooms lament not bringing a heavier jacket. I keep a space heater in my office so I can work comfortably in summer. The in doors are cold, and the buildings framed with cooling misters and you will always get water.
It’s not like that in London. I spent a summer studying in London while in Law School. It was 2013 and considered very hot. Olarum thought it wonderful. I understood why poets went on and on about summer as romantic wonderful thing.
But I missed the free waters on every table and got annoyed at the lack of iced tea. Everywhere had hot tea, but that’s no good to cools down when you’re already sweating. I broke my rule of not going to any American chains to find a Starbucks outside Loyd’s of London after a class tour.
“Do you have iced tea?” I asked, desperate and searching for the elixir that had always been available growing in the American South and living in the Southwest.
Of course they did, it’s Starbucks. How silly I must have sounded to be desperate for the familiar pleasure of a glass of sweetened green tea brimming with ice, the plastic cup wet with condensation as I held it. But it wasn’t everywhere in London the way it surely is in Texas.
Those vaporized children would survive perfectly well in Texas. Texas is air conditioned and places offer free water and serve cold drinks like iced tea with unlimited refills. It isn’t just about the heat your body is used to, though I’m sure desert life has skewed what I consider too hot or too cold, it’s about whether a place is built for the heat.
