Mancunicon (Eastercon 2016) report

[eledonecirrhosa]

Had a bit of an attack of Real Life, so here is a belated report on Mancunicon 2016. I’m sure the lifts have been moaned about much elsewhere, so the only thing I’m going to add to that is that Ming and I had a 5-10 minute period of alarm when we thought that Smitty might be stuck in a broken lift! For stuff about programme and food, read on.

Comments

[coth]

Brian felt the same way about the air-conditioning in the bed rooms, although he didn't take sleeping pills and slept very badly. I slept okay, but had incredibly sore and dry eyes throughout the convention. I have written a note to the Access Liaison for Mancunicon about whether air conditioning should be considered an access issue for some of us. It is incredibly uncomfortable and irritating not to be able to get away from it.

[eledonecirrhosa]

Unfortunately it seems to be standard for British hotels to have aircon that is noisy and dries out your throat. I wonder if it is some building regulation?

Friends going down with Con Crud also seems to be becoming distressingly frequent, and the aircon is probably a large factor in that.

The access issue is a good way to raise it. I did report it to the hotel on their feedback form.

[coth]

I suspect it's a feature of the state of aircon technology and industry at the time when the particular building is commissioned or last refurbished. It will be an issue at the NEC, and probably not (or not so much) in Harrogate. I will be looking at it when we visit the Majestic in July.

In the longer term either the issue is going to be temporary while we work through the tail end of the oil age and active air conditioning systems and learn to build comfortable, passive buildings once again. Or we will all have to get used to it as global warming drives large populations permanently indoors/underground.