UK PonyCon 2022, Friday: This is no time for sober thinking

Crazy horses ridin' everywhere

The Friday before UK PonyCon is generally a really fun yet slightly hectic day. I had to check I hadn't forgotten anything I couldn't pick up in Nottingham if I had to. But equally, I knew I was about to head off for a real highlight of the year, and more to the point for a chance to see friends I don't normally get to spend time with in person. On that note, incidentally, I won't be including pictures of specific attendees in this report unless as part of an anonymous group shot, eg on the Mane Stage. Some of those I know aren't especially keen on having their faces plastered all over the internet. Me neither.

Even though I'd had the chance to stay in the "con hotel" over the road from the venue, I'd turned that down and decided to stay out of town in the hope of a quiet night's sleep or three. And I really do mean out of town: I'd booked in at the Travelodge Derby Cricket Ground, 15 miles from Nottingham. I will be honest here: partly it was just that I couldn't turn down the chance to actually stay at a cricket ground. There's a hotel like that in Worcester, but that's a bit close to me to have any reason to stay there. But mostly I was after a quiet few nights well away from con stuff. (Sneak preview: it worked.)

But first, the train strikes had to be navigated. Although the national strike would be on the Saturday (and there'll be a little bit more on that in the next report), a couple of companies including East Midlands Railway were affected by a different dispute on the Friday as well, so I had to be careful with my trains. Fortunately rail travel is one of the things that Logan actually tends to properly plan, so I had no significant problems and I was in Derby in time for lunch. As it was dry, rather than get a taxi I walked the mile to the hotel, a fairly boring trek with my bags but nothing to worry about.

A purple train fit for a purple princess?

I'd paid an extra tenner for a midday check-in, and this turned out to have been a very good idea. I was assigned Room 404, which rather surprisingly did not turn out to have gone missing from pegasus-ing. Top floor, which meant nobody traipsing around above me at night – yay! And at the back of the hotel, with a view right over the cricket ground itself – double yay! The cricket season had finished, so I wasn't going to see any actual play, but then the room wouldn't have been such good value had there been a match on. My three nights were around £80 cheaper than the grottier Travelodge in Nottingham where I'd endured a sleepless night in 2019.

After dumping my stuff in my room and setting out my clothes for Saturday, I headed for the railway station again, this time without those heavy bags. Bliss! The weather was starting to close in, and I wanted to get to Nottingham before the heavens opened. I managed to do that – just. By the time I left the station it was raining steadily. A quick tram ride into town (nope, Izzy hadn't commandeered it) and I had a little bit of time to myself. Sadly my original plan to wander around the city's streets was kiboshed by the now quite heavy rain, so I found a pleasant Caffe Nero and sat in a quiet upstairs room with a cappuccino for a while.

By late afternoon, it was time for the traditional Worcester Shires (and a few more friends) pre-meet in the Roebuck pub in Nottingham city centre. We've used that place for this purpose since UK PonyCon arrived in the city in 2018. There were a few people there already when I turned up, including one friend who I managed to not properly register until he pointed that out! Whoops, sorry Mike. All very Logan, I have to say. Still, no harm done and despite this unpromising beginning it was absolutely great to be back. (I'd travelled up at dawn on Saturday in 2021, so this was my first proper con pre-meet since those far-off days of 2019.)

Pub, pub, p-p-p-pub, pub, pub, hungry, hungry

That was despite the brain-melting nature of No More Unicorns (No More Jockeys ponified), a game that though I quite like I'm not really sure I want to play on a con Friday again. It's not to everyone's taste and it really does go on a bit, much longer than a simpler game like Chase the Ace tends to. It's maybe better on a Friday evening to concentrate more on the more relaxed, informal stuff that goes with reconnecting with other people. Still, the game was fun as far as it went, and after it several hours passed in highly convivial fashion. Cider may or may not have been drunk during the evening. (Narrator: cider was drunk during the evening.)

I know some people have mixed feelings about Wetherspoon pubs, but frankly I am really quite a fan. For one thing, they seem entirely tolerant of groups of strange people shoving several tables together and then sitting around all evening with ponies and associated clutter littering the table. We did buy a decent amount of food and drink, which was probably a help! Also, the Spoons app actually works properly, which is more than I can say for some other pub and restaurant companies... For those who really care, I ate a BBQ chicken pizza and chips and drank Black Dragon cider, which is a cut above the usual chain pub stuff. Strong, though: 7.2% ABV.

A great thing about cities with tram systems is that their rails aid navigation on foot no end. As such, since the weather was nice I walked the 15 minutes or so back to the station. Thanks to the aforementioned EMR strikes there was only one Derby train an hour with CrossCountry, but mine wasn't nearly as crowded as I'd feared. I was back in my hotel well before ten o'clock and so had time for a leisurely cup of coffee and a look at the online UKPC schedule before going to bed. I actually had to walk several steps to reach the kettle, quite a novelty in a Travelodge! Despite a couple down the hall talking (not too loudly) for a bit, I got to sleep gratifyingly quickly.

Not the worst hotel window view in the world!

Next time: Gather in groups and ready your lungs