US & English/European heating systems.

[Reece]

WRT coin-operated utility meters: I remember my father talking about his mother putting coins in the gas meter when he was small. This was in Texas, around 1910-1915 or so.

[Beachboy]

Originally Posted by Colly0410

I went to Spain on vacation, the rented apartment had a TV with a meter on the side: You had to put a 1 euro coin in to make it work for 2 hours. I didn't bother with it... Been in many rented apartments & hotels in Tenerife, England, America & Malta but never been charged for the TV..

I remember staying in a Motel 6 as a kid, when the chain first opened. That was when the room rate really WAS $6 a night! You got what you paid for, including a nondescript B/W 18" TV on rabbit ears, connected to a coin box. I think you had to put a quarter in to watch a few hours of TV. Dad declined to make the investment! LOL

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Beachboy

I remember staying in a Motel 6 as a kid, when the chain first opened. That was when the room rate really WAS $6 a night! You got what you paid for, including a nondescript B/W 18" TV on rabbit ears, connected to a coin box. I think you had to put a quarter in to watch a few hours of TV. Dad declined to make the investment! LOL

But they did leave the light on for you! Some rooms, they rent by the hour.
Real common with the radios of the day.

[Ed in Tx]

Then there was "$8 Days Inn". Now just "Days Inn".

[Colly0410]

Been thinking. (yes I know it'll wear my brain out, & stop laughing those of you thinking "what brain?") Most American homes have some kind of air conditioning so a forced air heating system could be combined with it so saving money on a hot water radiator system. I've never been in a British home with air conditioning as it's very rare that it's too warm, you might get 5 or 6 hot days a year where A/C would be useful. On those rare hot days we just throw open all the windows & put electric fans on & whinge & moan at how hot it is, we are usually moaning at how cold it is. I have got 2 portable fans & 1 incorporated with the ceiling light in the main bedroom. Most big stores & shopping centre's have A/C though. My car (Hyundai i10) has A/C fitted as standard, I need it when it's been parked in full sun...

[Colly0410]

Me saying we have very few days of hot weather here in England. Well we've had 5 heatwaves this last summer with temps getting up in 90's for days & days on end, & the tropical humid nights were brutal. I'd sleep (or try to sleep) with an electric fan blowing on me all night, I so wished I had AC. Oh & how we moaned & complained about the heat, but an American on the news said "this heat is so much worse than we get back home, I can't believe how brutal it is " so maybe we're not such a bunch of wuss's after all, lol. It's 64 now so not too hot. i'm going to a Northern Soul night later so should be OK for dancing, went last month & the AC had conked out & boy was it hot...