Long ago, there was a time when we went to our windows, drew back the curtains-and stuck our heads out. There wasn't any window to open, no pane of glass to keep out the wind and the rain. Such was life for the crowned heads of Europe as they looked out the windows of their castle. Glass windows had not been developed yet. So much of our ordinary comfort is unimaginably better than even the greatest wealth of times past could purchase. A draft-free place to live where the temperature never varies more than a couple degrees, no matter the chill or heat wave. A place where light and the waking hour activities it makes possible are determined by the indweller and not the fluctuating rhythms of the earth and sun and moon. A place filled with music and entertainment, better than ancient royalty knew and more promptly and tirelessly than they could command. A place with doorways into millions of other homes, libraries, museums, and businesses of every kind. A place where the comforts of the bath are available on demand in heated luxury. A place where our food is available in quantity and variety fresh from all parts of the world, chilled or heated as we might wish and without dependence on season. All this and with a gleaming carriage at our disposal pulled by two hundred silent horses, or maybe two such carriages, should we grow tired of our "castle. Now we need our handyman more than ever to keep our castle well maintained and safe.
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