UK PonyCon report, part six: Monday · 10:42pm Nov 25th, 2024

Sundance needed all her cunning to get a drink that morning

I'm not going to pretend that a two-week gap since part five of this report is anything other than embarrassing, but at least I'm here now! Anyway, I set the alarm on Monday earlier than I really needed to, since it was the only day I could have breakfast at my hotel and I wanted to make the most of it. All-you-can-eat buffet breakfasts being what they are, I consumed far more than was really sensible. Bacon, sausages, eggs, baked beans, hash browns, croissants, pancakes, yoghurt, cereal, coffee... the list goes on. It was an absolute disgrace and I loved every minute of it!

I'd already packed everything, so all I needed to do after breakfast was to grab my bags and check out. Then came the irritating walk to the station around that massive roundabout. Fortunately, again it was dry. I wasn't heading back home quite yet, though, as Hawthorn had set up the usual (in recent years, anyway) farewell coffee meet in the Starbucks by Nottingham station. This did mean I had to make an extra trip back there – my train home went in the other direction – but it wasn't expensive and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to say some kind of goodbye.

It worked out all right. Various people came and went: Ace, Zen, Mike, Hawthorn and half a dozen others, not all of whom I knew that well. We chatted away about how the convention had gone, mostly agreeing that it had been great but that they really needed to do something about the aircon and the length of the auction if they were going to come back to Nottingham next year. I had a toffee apple muffin, which I liked but one or two others were less keen on. There were awkward hugs (best kind!) from a couple of willing folks, but one by one we wrenched ourselves away and departed.

"Cafe to Go" – but I sat inside. Rebel that I am...

My train home was pretty uneventful. I stopped off in Birmingham for another drink and a snack, though in truth that was mostly to drag out my UK PonyCon weekend just that little bit longer. It was going to be back to everyday boringness the next day, after all, and I doubt I was the only person who wasn't really looking forward to it. Our bank managers, if such people still existed, might have answered rather differently! Only my last train back to Kidderminster was at all late, and that only by a few minutes. And then, suddenly, I was back in a world where adults didn't wave toy ponies about. Boo.

As that hasn't taken up much space, let's have a quick run-down of what I liked and what I didn't about this year's UKPC:

Things I liked

The packed schedule. It inevitably meant a few clashes, but you could tell they'd gone all-out for the con's 20th birthday.
The guests. Ashleigh Ball and AJ Bridel? No grumbles there! AJ in particular absolutely threw herself into things and won a lot of hearts.
The record amount raised for the RDA. To make £20,000 at UKPC 20 was wonderfully fitting.
The stalls. For the second year running, a Europe-leading number and a very satisfying variety.
The official merch. I really liked the T-shirt design, and having mugs for sale (for only £6, at that) on the con's china anniversary was a great touch.
The café. Okay, it's not amazing – Leeds and Bristol had better ones – but it's good enough, and it did serve muffins, which I don't remember it doing in the past.
The friendship. Sure, it's not as family-orientated a con as it once was (which is a pity) but it's still got a really special atmosphere through being a Pony event, not a brony one.
Pre-registration. An instant hit, and something that will surely be retained for future UKPCs.

Things I didn't like

The heat. The aircon in the auction room (LT2, I think) in particular was woefully inadequate.
The waits. I didn't suffer in the enormous autograph queues, but the auction overran so far it was almost comical.
The water. I've since been told there was a drinking fountain or two, but it still wasn't sufficient.
The WiFi. Not the con's fault, but nowhere near good enough for a place where people are using it for financial transactions. I'm going to go back to using cash at cons for a while, I think.

You'll notice that the first list is considerably longer than the second one, and that reflects my experience. I think this was one of the very best UK PonyCons out of the ten I've now attended. 2018 was special to me because of EileMonty, 2022 was special to me because of Andrea Libman, but 2024 was special to me in many ways. It wasn't absolutely perfect. It was still a roaring success. Well done, everyone, and thank you!

It was often quite difficult to remember how many years UKPC had been running for...