Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
A blogger says:
- We've just this week seemed to have commenced in earnest the awful DC tradition of 90+ degree days with high, high humidity. The trouble with the terrible DC summer, however, is that it's hard to sum up in one simple statistic.
The heat is bad, yes, but it's also the humidity. But there are more hot-and-humid cities out there -- Atlanta, say. What makes DC different is its aspiration to be a northeastern-style walkable urban center where you can walk four blocks, get on a Metro, ride a way, then find yourself just a four block walk from, say, some destination somewhere. Which is fine, except you wind up arriving for your work-related event looked sweaty and ridiculous. All of which could be mitigated by attire except that DC is also one of the most formal of American cities at this point. I'll always remember this July 12 breakfast with Chuck Schumer from last summer for exactly how uncomfortable everyone (the Senator included) looked in our jackets and ties and wondering who, exactly, we were all trying to impress by dressing like that?
Do people in other hot and humid cities drive more? Wear less formal clothes? Is DC really one of the most formal of American cities at this point?
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Dunno about other hot and humid cities, but the downtown office buildings in this one are all connected by an underground tunnel system so you never have to leave air conditioning to get from one building to the next. Most of the buildings in the med center are also connected by tunnel or skywalk.
Otherwise, we're a city of 600 square miles, bigger than the stae of Rhode Island. It's ridiculous to think that we wouldn't be driving pretty much everywhere.
I generally carry a sweater with me most places in the summer, because I'm usually just going from one overly air conditioned box to another.