Excessive Heat Warning 100 degrees

[Photon440]

Yeah remember that heat wave in Europe about 5-6 years ago? Lots of people died. When I road tripped through France and Germany in 2007 I recall stopping at a fast food place off the highway in the middle of nowhere as we still had a long haul to our destination. The soft drink at this German stop was served to me at the order counter with no ice so I asked for some. They couldn’t understand me so finally I managed to somehow convey what I meant. The older lady took my cup of sprite to the very back of the cooking area and walked through a double door. When she returned, there in my cup was floating a lone single ice cube. I didn’t say anything more and ate my meal. Later in talking with a hotel clerk he explained to me that refrigeration was a luxury and very expensive so that was the norm - at least in that area of Bavaria.

That's actually kind of ironic, considering that it was Carl von Linde in Germany that invented refrigeration. (Yes, that 'Linde'.) The first interested parties in the 1870's were breweries who wished for a way to make more beer. Part of the German Purity Law of 1516 made it illegal for commercial brewers to make beer during the spring and summer months - cold brewing made better quality beer, so the beer made in March had to last until September. Refrigeration plants changed this so that beer making could continue all year long.