recirculate

Summer took a while to get here, but when it did, the heat hit us full force. I had noticed that my car's air conditioner seemed to have trouble cooling me when the afternoon temperatures got above 100F. I considered mentioning it to John, but decided not to. Surely the problem would resolve itself soon enough.

Then John drove my car. Once we got onto the paved road, I told him to turn off the recirculate.

"Why?" he asked.
"Because the Saturn lady told me not to use it very much."
"Why?" he asked again.
"I don't know. She said something about the vents needing to be open or else they'd get musty."
"Is that why you've been so hot when you get home after work?"
"Huh? What does that have to do with recirculating?"

Then I was enlightened about some of the finer points of using recirculate in my car. Turns out the car can get cooler if you keep cooling and re-cooling the same air.

The next day at work my boss walked in and was obviously hot. "My car's air conditioner just can't keep up when it's so hot outside. It sure feels good in here!"

After I stopped laughing, I recounted my conversation with John. She and I both use recirculate now when it's hot outside.