City vs Country, part V

There was much howling and squealing in Sydney not long ago when the outback paid a visit in the form of a rather large dust storm. Some people acted like it was the end of the world.

J took one look at the storm, then the media coverage, and went "Pfft. We had storms like that twice a week during summer when I was growing up".

During our recent sojourn in the country, I partook of the annual ritual of the cleaning of the air conditioner dust filters. By that, I sat on the lawn in the backyard with a beer and watched brother in law clamber around on the roof. He went up clean, and came down filthy. By his estimation, two inches of dust had collected at the bottom of the filters over winter - a time when dust storms are non-existent down that way.

It's a chore he is well used to, having done it every year now since the relatives out that way made enough money to afford air con. Pity the cousin who climbed onto his roof and found that his motor had siezed since last being run.

How many people in Sydney bother to ever clean their filters? How many would even know how to, or be game enough to climb a rusty ladder and gambol around on the tiles?