Di recente mi è trasferito nel sud della Francia e ieri ho parlato con un amico di come non credo di poter fare la mossa se la protezione solare non fosse mai stata invitata. Mi ha fatto pensare agli immigrati irlandesi che si sono trasferiti negli Stati Uniti e altrove, in particolare quelli che hanno lavorato sulle ferrovie attraverso l’Occidente, l’orrore che devono sperimentare, scoprendo il calore e l’ustione del sole in quelle parti
https://i.redd.it/f5bp5cc8m6gf1.jpeg
di pinkroses_a
14 commenti
*could have, must have…
I met an elderly British couple recently who had lived in the Middle East for nearly 30 years, they said they often used to make their own sunblock. Can’t remember the formula… but it wasn’t very effective as they both ended up getting skin cancer in old age.
Although perhaps people live longer now, so things like skin cancer are more prevalent? Plus the planet is warming.
New research around the detrimental effects of sun exposure have been pointing towards interesting patterns in exposure and cancer risks. Essentially it has found that long term exposure the likes of which a labourer or a farmer would experience from decades of working in the sun would in fact leave a person more resistant to skin cancer as the melanin/tan/freckles that would of built up over long periods of time in daily exposure leaving your skin relatively resistant to everyday sun (as compared to when an office worker goes on a sun holiday and scalds which will result in cancer 20 years down the line).
With this in mind I would postulate that those immigrating would have been more resilient against the sun from day one and would have had less hardship as a result of it that any of us would have today.
There’s a huge Irish community in the Richmond district in San Francisco, which is renowned for it’s foggy grey weather, and a lot of people joke that they chose to settle there as it is the closest in California to the dreary Irish climate.
My family came from NI around 1960. They thought sunburns were healthy for children. My dermatologist isn’t impressed with their parenting. I had at least 5 second-degree burns before I turned 10. This was in Kansas – I can’t believe we didn’t just turn into little piles of ash.
They didn’t stop frying us until a neighbor chewed them out.
I remember asking my dad about it regarding my grandad who worked outside all day with the council,, he said trousers, a long sleeves shirt and a hat would keep the sun off you all day . He never wore a t shirt or shorts in his life
Seven seconds after this photo was taken, everyone spontaneously went up in flames. RIP.
You eventually get a tan and get used to it. Ireland had a Spanish invasion in like the 15th centure, we’ve a tonne of Mediteranian DNA in the mix.
Apparently we’re the reason the term redneck exists
This is where I’m happy I tan. After about a week in somewhere like the Mediterranean I’m pretty brown and don’t burn unless I take the piss. Doesn’t work at latitudes closer to the equator though; I can turn Spanish but not African.
In general in the olden days, shade, long sleeves and hats were much more utilised. And tbh many Irish people do tan over time. Well, 50/50 maybe.
I moved to the US. The last couple days, the real feel has been above 40c. Weirdly enough I have acclimatized to a point where I find 30c or below fine to do anything without bother. But once it goes above 35c, you won’t find me outside.
I just don’t go out in the sun until after 5 or 6pm, I can’t stand suncream so if I have to go to a waterpark I’m covered pretty much head to toe, if I go for a walk in the mountains I go late or with long trousers, long sleeves and a hat. I do see plenty of Irish people who bring their kids out between 12 and 15h and they come back roasted and some of the kids would need to be brought off in an ambulance due to exposure (in Spain, 35c).
All the lads out in India or the Caribbean I always wonder about.
I think people just wore clothes that covered up and hats for the most part.
Interesting the poor whites in places like Barbados – mostly of Irish decent – were known as “red legs”. Presumably because of the sunburnt legs.
I always thought that as well. What about the British and Irish that were sent down to work in Australia on the convict ships? It must have been awful.