I must have it pretty good.
My recent conversations with neighbors seem to always include a question they ask me: “What’s it like in your apartment right now?” They’re referring, of course, to how well my particular micro-climate is holding out against the heat we’ve been experiencing here in San Antonio.
Answering them honestly, I reply: “Actually, it’s pretty comfortable up in my place.” And it is. Since I’m rather obsessive about monitoring the temperature in here, I also rattle off the reading from my highly accurate digital thermometer. With the exception of those few days when our A/C has been off-line for repairs, that reading is somewhere between 75 and 79 degrees. Considering that the outside heat is daily in the triple digits, I’d say I’m doing pretty good.
Now, I know that I do have certain advantages that other apartments in this hotel don’t.
1.) I’m on the second floor, which is always cooler than the upper residential floors.
2.) Of my six big windows, four of them face a narrow courtyard which is almost always in the shade. And my two easterly-facing windows face the big common patio, where a large gazebo-like structure shades them during those few morning hours when the sun would otherwise strike them after rising above the big International Center across the river. Many (most) of the other apartments here are smaller than mine, and have big windows that catch the Sun directly during much of the day.
3.) I also have two big ceiling fans, on in each of my main rooms, and a strategically placed rotating stand fan.
So I don’t mind answering the question my neighbors are asking these days. And I enjoy smiling when they listen wide-eyed to my reply.
