The MOO Blog
How To Keep Cool in London-Town.
28th June 2010 by Lisa
It’s a hot one in London-town today. And, the MOO Studios are not air conditioned. So, we asked our twitter followers for tips to keep us cool.
There were a few brilliant ideas. Others – well “A” for effort, guys. Anyway, I thought why not share all the ideas here in hope that you might benefit and perhaps other ideas may bubble up. If you have more ideas or support some of those below, please share them in the comments.
In no particular order:
- bag of ice in front of your fan! (from @lbc42a)
- get a @zokuUK ice lolly maker (from @zomiedoris)
- place a pitcher of ice in front of the fan to cool the air temp from fans.(from @STudio79)
- cool washcloths on wrists and neck helps. (from@therealanniemcq)
- get people involved in an ice lolly run! (from @markjames19)
- place a cold rag on the back of ur neck. Most of ur nerve receptors are there & it will cool u down in a matter of moments! (from@HLCupcake)
- An inflatable pool? Will look really cool in your office.. (from@antoninam)
- remove things that r tight @ur waist – belts/high pants [ed. trousers :)] /skirts! Also don’t drink cold H20 drink at just below room temp. (from@dandyLionevents)
- visit Seattle! We are at or below 70 all week :D [ed. Fahrenheit I presume] (from@handcraftedcaro)
- if you can deal with the smells; shoes off! [ed. not sure, we have a lot of men in this office] (from@WillsBrain)
- a pint of iced water in front of the fan. It works. Trust me. (from@DaveTreadwell)
- I tried to cool myself down by watching Fargo yesterday – it didn’t help but hey it’s a great film. (from@mrdanielweir)
- air conditioning? [ed. we wish] (from@terabyte240)
- cold water on the wrists (from@woosang)
I think my favourite was a visit to Seattle. I’ve never been there and I’ve heard the MOOsters there are lovely.
Or, perhaps try the mind-over-matter approach. Think cool thoughts. And here’s a MiniCard Ready Made Pack which can help you focus your mind.
I put a big bucket of cold water in my room. Fan is optional and I chill the water by adding ice packs if it starts to get warm. If I could I would reuse the water if I had a garden. Works great to chill the room but it does add humidity.
I also dry my clothes on a rack in my living room. It saves dryer costs and cools the room down. Works best if you have large towels and clothing.
Do you remember the little heatwave we had back in August of 2003? I was working as a grill chef then, and on the hottest few days of the year I was the one stood between the flame grill & the gas-fired spitroast (the kind that’s open at the front, not the electric kind which has glass doors to keep the heat in). Things which helped me then:
- loose clothing (although technically I was an XS in chef’s jackets, I was wearing XL large)
- you know those little neckerchiefs you see chefs wearing sometimes? That’s to stop the sweat from your face & neck getting any further down you body. Sounds gribbly, works a treat, and does actually keep you feeling cooler than you would without
- take an extra change of clothes, and use them if you can catch an extra 5-minute break (now I work in a different industry, I just change my top at lunch)
- mug of ice. Mugs are easier to hold than glasses (and you’re not allowed glasses in a kitchen anyway – too much danger of glass getting in the food) and after 5-10 minutes the ice had melted into deliciously cool water
- keep busy. the less time you have to think about feeling hot & icky the less you notice it.
Of course, we did have the advantage of being able to escape to the walk-in freezer to ‘fetch stock’ during quieter times, which I guess you guys don’t have ;-)
I love the idea of walking in to the freezer. I wonder if I can convince the boss that a printing company needs a walk-in freezer.
Run your wrists under cold water and instead of drying it off, wipe your hands on areas of bare skin (legs, arms, neck) but not so that your completely wet, just damp skin. It’l act like sweat and dry off thus cooling you but with less of the icky odour! Our air con broke at work so we had many methods of keeping cool, wearing minimal clothing and drinking cold drinks helps sometimes too.