People like authenticity. When I introduced my talk, I apologised for the basic theme: “I don’t understand how LibreOffice Impress templates work, so this is just the basic Pandoc theme, but at least it’s not AI.” That received a huge cheer.

Things that also got a cheer: when I said that I’d cycled all the way from London; and when I faintly praised the Tories for opting out of article 20(6)(b) of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic to preserve the right of pedestrians to cross the road wherever they wish.

The most typically EMF question after my talk: where did you take that photo of your bike by the weir? (Near Eton.)

Lots of people (who go to EMF) really like number plates. My talk was very well attended, especially considering it was 10:30 on a Sunday morning. Admittedly, it wasn’t quite as busy as the full house for Breaking into buildings with boobs (a hugely informative and entertaining talk!) but I didn’t put “boobs” in the title and, as someone pointed out, to be on Stage A means that plenty of people must have starred it in the talk list.

Composting toilets are great for authentic feedback. While using one, I overheard a couple of people outside discussing talks they’d seen that day. One said, “I went to the number plates talk and it was really good.” That’s honest feedback, and I was happy to hear it.

A full-size illuminated dalek on a path

You meet all sorts at EMF Camp

Even in July, in a heatwave, it can still get cold at night in the countryside. Last EMF, I was too cold at night. But that was in June, and this was mid-July in a near-constant heatwave. Surely my ultralight sleeping bag that’s comfortable down to 15 C would be fine. Well … it got down to 11 C on a couple of nights, and even clad in socks, trousers, fleece, and scarf, I still felt the chill in my bones.

I’m going to buy a warmer sleeping bag before my next camp, even if it’s in the so-called summer.

Solar power is amazing. With a 21 W “hiking” solar panel from Decathlon and a USB C power bank with Power Delivery capabilities, I kept my phone and laptop charged the whole time I was away. Of course, EMF being the kind of event it is, you can bring a long extension lead and get power to your tent; however, as I was staying in campsites on the way that either didn’t offer power to tents or charged significantly for it, the weight of a 10 m spool seemed excessive. I fully expected to have to fill up my charger from a mains socket at some point, but I never actually needed to.

Robins (the birds) can live up to 19 years, and 26 g is heavy for a robin.

A ride-on motorised Tesco shopping trolley

Unconventional transportation

Hedgehogs can swim across rivers, tracking them at feeding stations while keeping most of the cats out is hard, and Prickly Pigs hedgehog rescue have one permanent resident hedgehog called Rhubarb who is neurodivergent and thinks they’re a cat.

Side note: I was very sad to see a dead hedgehog at the side of the road on my way back to London.

If you put it on the schedule, they will come. In 2024, the session was spontaneous; this time, it had a time and a place (two times, in fact). On Friday night, a huge number of people turned up at various points, and I ended up playing for 3¾ hours until it was dark and I was still stuck wearing my prescription sunglasses because I’d left my normal glasses in my tent.

A panoramic view of a circle of musicians on chairs, playing whistle, guitar, violin, cello, etc. as the shadows grow long on the ground.

The evening session

Nobody has seen a baglamas before, but it fits in very well with other session instruments. By halfway through the first jam, I was feeling comfortable playing chordal accompaniment as well. It’s really only two shapes and a lot of moving around, but there’s a difference between theoretical and practical knowledge that can only really be overcome in the course of real-life playing.

You can develop black and white film with coffee, as I discovered from Alexander Baxevanis’s talk and live film development demonstration.

A good performer is still a good performer when everything else goes wrong. John Robertson’s “live-action videogame” The Dark Room relies on a remote-controlled laptop presentation. When his Bluetooth controller stopped working, he turned the debugging and fixing into part of the show, with audience participation, and it was just as entertaining as the planned show.

A wheeled robot made of plywood with two arms and an expressive cyclopean head

Dan Perrett’s robot Friday

Have a spare pair of cycle shorts. I didn’t, and was content to just wash them by hand each evening. On Friday morning, however, I noticed that the gel padding had broken down, leaving me with a problem for getting home again. This pair of shorts was old, and rubber doesn’t last forever, but they were comfortable up until they broke. I ordered a new pair to be delivered to the Co-op in Ledbury, and cycled there and back on Saturday afternoon (about 20 minutes each way) to collect them. I noticed the difference between regular padding and gel on my ride back to London, however.

Flora Buttery is vegan again! It wasn’t, and then in 2019 it was, and then in 2020 they added dairy back after a “backlash” from people outraged that their sunflower spread – that is literally named after a Latin word for plants – now contained not even a trace of animal products, but I’d missed that the makers had removed the dairy again in 2023 until someone at the South London Makerspace breakfast confidently informed me that it was vegan and pointed to the packet. I mean, if you will keep messing around with the recipe, you can’t expect me to keep up.

My bicycle, loaded up with all my gear, in the early morning with the tents of EMF behind

Leaving EMF, 07:15 Monday morning

Blink and you’ll miss the chance to volunteer. I was out on the Sunday before EMF when they opened volunteering slots; by the time I got home they were all taken. Volunteering is the only way to guarantee a ticket for the next Electromagnetic Field. But I’ll find a way to come back next time!