mysid

Today, I finished work at lunchtime and then headed out to London, where I'm staying overnight before I head out north for the weekend. In between, I went to see Hurts at O2 Academy Brixton, for their 15-year anniversary concert for the album Happiness. I booked my ticket when the pre-sale opened, but even so, when the day arrived today, I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it. I feel so out of practice with going to gigs. I got there just before seven and the doors were already open. I found a spot close to the front, not a great view with taller people in front, but good enough. The opener was OK, but sounded a bit unbalanced. Hurts were really good and it was exciting to be a part of a crowd happy to hear them again. The first half was Happiness songs, and after a quick break for Theo, a selection from the later albums.

Feet feel tired now.

Sewing is what I've mostly done this weekend. Yesterday, I got most of the bodice done and made a start on the sleeves, today I finished the sleeves and worked on the skirt. The next step is to stitch the gather lines and start attaching the bodice to the skirt. The collar took some fumbling around yesterday but seemed to fall into place eventually. Today's pieces were more straightforward. Today's problem was thread. I realised soon enough I would run out at some point. So I went and rooted through my sewing box and found a bit more of the right shade. That was just a momentary help though and I had to go out to get some more in the afternoon if I wanted to continue. Even so, by the time I finished for the day, I knew I'd still need more to complete the dress. But with a busy week ahead and plans for the next weekend, I'll have time to go shopping before I'll have time to continue.

Coming into the office today, I saw the temporary air conditioning kit was switched off everywhere, so it seemed the air conditioning was now back to its normal working conditions, and that was confirmed by the office manager later in the day. Yesterday, when I was coming up the stairs to our floor I heard voices from the top floor, which houses the services only, so I suspect the work was in progress, so it was good to see it finished.

Today is the Global Accessibility Awareness Day and the accessibility team at work had organised a conference style programme for today, with sessions held in the head office in person and available via Teams to everybody. At our office, we had a meeting room booked so we watched and listened to the sessions together, rather than huddling at our desks just across each other. It was a good mix of talks. Some offices, including ours, held an empathy lab session yesterday, with kit and tools to try to put yourself into the shoes of somebody with an impairment. So I tried some of the glasses simulating different eye conditions, including tunnel vision, diabetic retinopathy, and cataracts. As I put those glasses on top of my own, the simulations probably weren't quite as intended, but the tunnel vision glasses certainly brought home how difficult it was to navigate or type anything. With the diabetic retinopathy glasses I didn't see well enough to even do the task that came with them—the solution there would probably have been to use voice commands or something. I also tried one of the exercises without wearing my own glasses, and that was certainly a case of nose-to-the-monitor and zooming out the text so it was much, much bigger than usual.

I went to the office today and found the temporary portal aircon units still in business. So clearly the issue with aircon in the kitchen area is still not fixed. And having the temporary units on is making our area feel rather chilly. A colleague who'd been on holiday while this aircon issue has been playing out was at the office for the first time in a while and she found it rather nippy, and she tends to find it too warm, not too cold.

There have been no updates about the aircon situation since last week. That update suggested the landlord's team is seriously on it, but with the temp kit still needed, it certainly doesn't look like it. As a result, I'm not expecting the situation to be any different when I go in tomorrow or on Thursday.

I ordered fabric for the sewing projects I was planning and prepping a couple of weeks ago, only to be seduced by an ad for a kit to make a dress the following day and order that one too. I knew my original order wouldn't come immediately because one of the fabrics was printed on demand, so it had a longer lead time anyway. But the kit arrived quickly in the next few days after I ordered it, and so by now I've had time to wash the fabric before cutting. Before doing any cutting, I needed to figure out the pattern pieces I needed, and that's what I did today. And as I had my dining table extended already, I immediately continued to cut the pieces. So I'm now ready to sew, but it's unlikely I'll have any time for that until next weekend. I also have a pair of trousers I'd like to attempt to mend to get a bit more wear out of it, and that will also need me to get the sewing machine out, so I might start with that.