I have spent a few holidays over in the States with family – it’s great living in with them for a couple of weeks at a time to really take in what’s different about life over there and here. One of the stand-out features for me is the difference in weather. How we dress our windows to suit this weather differs too. We just pull blinds down or close curtains. They have wonderful window shutter blinds which are made of wood. You have to keep out the extreme sunlight and heat when they have 70% humidity – otherwise the aircon is prohibitive to run. We have been seeing the advent of the same blinds over here now. In fact I know several families who have invested in them – more for show than keeping out extreme elements of course! One thing they don’t do is hang washing out – even though in most states they have much better weather all year and saving the use of tumble driers would save this planet overnight!