UK Ponycon 2018 - Friday · 8:19pm Oct 19th, 2018
I wrote some blogs detailing my experience at UK Ponycon 2016 (Leeds), and also some blogs about my trip to Bronycon last year. It's about time I did some more of these! 
Friday
Bit of background; I'd had a very busy LEGO event the previous weekend. That and a full of week of work had left me a little tired (read: bloody exhausted). Yet I was determined to come over to Nottingham for a pre-meet of some kind. So in to work I went that morning (I didn't have enough leave left to take), and damn. I really felt like I wasn't up to it after all, and would have to give it a miss. I was even considering only doing the Saturday of the con at that point. 
Things happily didn't turn out that way. Throughout the course of the day, I kept a sneaky eye on my phone while at my desk. Probably more than strictly acceptable, to be honest. And what I got to experience (albeit digitally) was 'TrainCon' in full swing. Ponies zooming all over the place on 170s, HSTs, 222s, you name it. So many cool Twitter updates! It was particularly exciting to think that friends were even travelling within a few hundred yards of my office in Derby. This was all the motivation I needed to make things happen. 
I'd come prepared that day, of course. In my bag was a pony shirt and a plushie of Rainbow Dash. This particularly Dashie (made by CatyblackCat) has been to all the UK cons I've attended so far, so she had to come. It's a pity I couldn't bring her to Bronycon too 
. The shirt was the 2017 UKPC one. I didn't wear it from the get-go as that would've taken too much explaining to my colleagues. Sigh. By about 4:30pm I couldn't take it anymore, and made a brisk exit for the station. My office was dead by that point anyway.
By this point, some ponies were already settled in to our chosen meeting spot; The 'Roebuck' Inn (that's roeBUCK), a Wetherspoons near the centre of Nottingham. This had been a recommendation of mine in the group chat, so I was a little nervous about it working out OK. Particularly as I hadn't personally been there for about 5 years (since university days)! A table had been commandeered at-least, so it sounded hopeful. Meanwhile, I popped on a train (a predictably packed CrossCountry turbostar), and attempted to use a dodgy 4G connection to warn people of my imminent invasion. 
The train journey seemed surprisingly quick. Maybe I was too distracted by pony shenanigans to notice the time passing. Upon arrival, I marched straight into town, straight into the pub, and.. straight into Twiggly. Which was handy, because if I hadn't found him first, I'd have probably spent the next 5 minutes trying to find everyone else. He showed me to THE TABLE where everyone had gathered, and it was great to see everyone. Which is why I immediately ran away again to change my shirt and buy a drink. 
Despite my weariness, it was a really nice time catching up with everyone. Particularly Zen, Ace and Twiggly, who I hadn't seen since last year. I enjoyed a large burger and sampled the various guest ales on offer. I was even tempted to manage a cookie ice cream pudding (no custard sadly). I gave Logan back his Pinkie figure that I'd previously nicked by accident. And as a pleasant surprise, there was a lot of actual in-depth discussion about recent pony. You know, that cartoon that some of us like, maybe? 
After a fair while, a few of us decided to pop over to the other pre-meet, the Trottingham one at the Orange Tree pub. I knew a fair people there, so felt it would be best to at least show my face for a bit. The room they'd booked out was, to be honest, quite dingy, so I'm glad I got to enjoy the 'Spoons beforehand. I didn't feel like playing any card games, but I did get to catch up with Aldersgate, the Leicester guys and the Trottingham guys. Also I met Hypnohooves who was plugging the next Griffish Isles. 
About 9:30 I called it a night, and headed back to the station. If I was going to have any chance of making Saturday morning registration, I really needed to catch some sleep. Also on a side note, since moving to my new flat the walk home from the station is now a much nicer affair compared to my old place, particularly late at night. I was rather glad of that, as I REALLY didn't want any bad experiences ruining the weekend. And so concluded the first day of proceedings. Yes, UK Ponycon 2018 really had started! 
Join me next time for........ ponies.
I wish I'd thought to wave as I passed through Derby around 2pm.
Also, ta very much for the Pinkie Pie! As I said on the day, I'd entirely forgotten about her at that point. (Poor Pinkie...)
What?! You crazy fool!