So, as I posted elsewhere, we're having a heat wave here in NorCal. It's been forecast to last all weekend. Last night, when my neighbor and I set out for an evening stroll, we expected it to be blasting hot. We were happily surprised to discover that a cool breeze had begun and the air was cooling rapidly. This is not completely unheard of in these parts, but was unexpected, based on the dire news predictions. As we strolled through the neighborhood, we could hear a number of a/c's still droning away. I wanted to knock on people's doors and tell them it wasn't hot anymore. (Free air conditioning for everyone!) My neighbor, who is my frugal idol, felt that this would be too weird and discouraged me from doing so. I was viewing it from a number of different angles: preserving cash and resources plus minimizing noise pollution. She felt it was too intrusive.
Most of these neighbors (and their a/c units) are elderly and these folks tend not to go outside in the evening, so they wouldn't know that the heat wave had temporarily broken. I should mention that ours is a townhome community and we are both long-time residents, so we wouldn't exactly be strangers knocking on random doors, but these were not the homes of close friends, either. Our happy compromise was to knock on the door of a friend whose home is always warm due to its western exposure. She was thrilled and we all stood outside chatting, enjoying the refreshingly cool air.
Final notes: All of these homes are large two-story units with relatively inaccessible (externally) upstairs windows designed for good cross ventilation. Opening a window at night is a very low-risk option. It was about 7:30, so not yet dark, but daylight was waning. Also, everyone pays their own electric bills, so it wasn't about saving the HOA's money.
In your opinion, would knocking on doors have been crossing a line? Would it have been viewed as helpful or intrusive? You already know how it turned out, but what would have been the most badass way to share this unexpected gift from Mother Nature?