Remember the air!

When I stepped outside this morning, and took a deep breath, I realized that it was that time of the year again. The air felt heavy, and the sun was suddenly a lot warmer than a week ago, a clear sign that winter is over, and summer is just around the corner.

Before I lived in Georgia, just the word summer brought on wonderfully bucolic images of green grass, blue skies, billowing skirts, fresh breezes, and opening the windows to the nice warm air. Well, Dorothy isn't in Kansas anymore Toto, and after my first summer in Georgia, these pastoral images went right out the window (which stayed closed, all summer long). Summers in Georgia are unbearably, unbelievably hot and humid. The kind that makes you pray for winter. The kind of heat where if you stand out on old asphalt long enough (providing you make it that long) your feet will have left a dent in the ground, and you are suddenly grateful your living room has one window, and less happy with that lovely bay window in your kitchen. The kind of weather where you can hang your clothes outside to dry for days and they will simply not get any dryer.
This is also the time when you hear interesting expressions such as "Remember the air!", "Close the door, you know the air is on!", "Can I turn the air on?", "Wow, our bill must be so high because of the air". I sometimes wonder if there are non-native English speakers who wonder if southerners have a strange obsession with oxygen. For those not familiar with the term, "air" is short for air conditioning. In the Netherlands, air conditioning is generally abbreviated to "airco" which always leads to interesting misunderstandings whenever relatives visit me.
I have to admit that I never appreciated air conditioning until I moved to Georgia, and experienced the "switch and save" program. This is a mandatory program whereby the electric company automatically shuts off all air conditioning units in one area when demand gets too high (read: when it's really blazing out there). The first time our unit got shut off, the indoor temperature went up to 82F within thirty minutes, and humidity was over 80%. I spent an hour frantically calling companies that could come out and fix our unit pronto, and then pondered spending the night at a hotel. The second time, I shrugged, got in my car, turned the air up, and drove to one of our wonderful shopping plazas. You live, you learn!

But we're not quite there yet. Fortunately. Right now we're in for a month of lovely spring weather, which matches the dreamy images described above perfectly. The cherry blossom is out in full force, the grass (which mysteriously goes into hibernation in winter time) is green again, and trees are either in full bloom, or cautiously displaying their first leaves. But this is also a time of limbo when it comes to temperature regulation. During the day it's -almost- too warm indoors, and you spend twenty minutes debating whether to open a window, turn the fan on, or switch the HVAC to "air", unless you're in an office, where you are victim to the mysterious gods who control your office temperature. In the evenings, it's beautiful, but then at night you find yourself shivering and fighting for covers with the person you usually love so much :)

Today, however, looks like a perfect day, so if you'll excuse me, I am going to take my cup of tea outside and enjoy it while it lasts.