This Twenty Five Years Ago will take you way back into the 1950, when no breeze was really a problem, so a solution had to be sought. No breeze today and you turn on the ceiling fan or the air conditioner to have a good night’s sleep. Not so 25 years ago! You had to take the licking and if your baby was uncomfortable you used a hand fan to try to provide some measure of comfort.
No breeze today and you start your engine to power your boat. Not so 25 years ago! If you were traveling by boat from Belize City to San Pedro, it would mean a 20-hour journey, a journey that could be very tedious, fastidious, laborious, and monotonous.
No breeze today and you put the laundry into the dryer and get your clothing nice and dry and smelling good in a matter of minutes. Not so 25 years ago! Your clothes would not dry so quickly, so you had to leave it overnight on the clothes line.
No breeze today and you do not have to worry about getting bored. You get into the computer and play some fun game. Not so 25 years ago! If there was no breeze, the kids would not be able to fly their kites, or play airplane with their cardboard propellers.
No breeze today and you do not have to worry about the mosquitoes coming out for there is the fogger that would soon alleviate things. Not so 25 years ago! No breeze meant the mosquitoes would come in abundance and you had to get the green coconut husk to light up and make extra smoke to drive those pestiferous insects away. They would even come out to the beach and out over the sea. The mosquitoes would mean setting up the mosquito net over the bed, and there again this would mean an uncomfortable heat.
So it seems that the lack of breeze was more significant 25 years ago for today we have other alternatives and solutions. Therefore people had to find solutions back then as well. Hey, do you know that there were two superstitions that could actually get you some breeze 25 years ago? One such superstition was to cast a cent, a nickel or dime into the sea and you asked for some breeze while you were casting it. The other required you to tie nine knots on a rope and cast the rope into the sea. You named each knot after an old lady and you towed the rope behind your boat for some time and in a matter of half an hour or so, you got some breeze. It worked so well that at times you could muster up a storm in the process. Trust me, it worked. We had faith in these methods of getting breeze 25 years ago for it was absolutely necessary.
