As summer ends, some will be looking forward to the winter. Others, however, feel like we never left it thanks to the curse that is air conditioning.

District judge (MC) Benjamin, sitting yesterday at Wimbledon Magistrates Court, unwittingly made Obiter feel vindicated when he said of the (very loud) air con: ‘It’s blowing cold air at me, could we have that turned off please’.

Obiter had already done the equivalent of a 20-minute workout by involuntarily shivering to stay warm so this was a welcome comment.

Working in an environment where you feel you need to wear a winter jacket and scarf in the height of summer – granted that temperature does not reach great heights here in England – you would think Obiter has become accustomed to the air conditioned chill. Alas, like other unnatural things (think alarm clocks and £8 London pints) one simply has not.

Courts are not the best examples of a well-regulated temperature-controlled room. Old buildings do not lend themselves well to modern heating and cooling techniques and many others have bigger structural issues to worry about than if someone is shivering or sweating as they try to make good legal points or attempt to shorthand those aforementioned points.

Either way, it is good to feel you are not alone and it made the cold Obiter picked up as a result of the chill slightly less painful. Special thanks must go to the kind security staff that listened to Obiter’s moans and groans and managed to talk to the right people to make the courtroom a little warmer. The nose had already started running by then but at least the air con no longer was.

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