Week 292: Pier review
I spent Monday doing nothing, watching TV series, taking a nap, and by the evening I felt mostly recovered from the previous weekend’s exertions.
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Week 291: The Pilgrim’s Tale
Befell that, in that season on a day, In Southwark at the Tabard as I lay, Ready to wenden on my pilgrimage To Canterbury with devout coráge, At night was come into that hostelry Well nine and twenty in a company Of sundry folk, by áventure y-fall In fellowship, and pilgrims were they all, That toward Canterbury wouldë ride. Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1400 Can you walk…
It doesn’t matter whether “Matz is nice”
I’ve met Matz once, I think, at EuRuKo in Krakow in 2010. We chatted briefly in Japanese. He seemed nice, but also quiet and reserved. At the time, he didn’t speak much English; perhaps he could speak more and just wasn’t particularly confident, but he didn’t.
You don’t just have to give in
I didn’t have to spend five days cycling across the country to and from a festival. I could just have taken the train. There wouldn’t even have been any moral failing in doing so. Instead, I did it the hard way. In exchange I saw a slice across England in great detail – birds, animals, plants, architecture – and felt the satisfaction of having achieved something.
Week 290: … and back again
Strictly speaking, I didn’t have to cycle all the way back from Electromagnetic Field – I could have cycled as far as a convenient station and taken a train the rest of the way – but I was mentally committed to finishing what I’d started.
Notes for “What’s in a number plate?” (Electromagnetic Field 2026)
Here are some notes and materials to accompany my talk from Electromagnetic Field 2026.
Sponsor me to walk to Canterbury
As if cycling 240 km each way from London to Herefordshire and back again wasn’t enough, in a week and a half’s time I’ll be walking with a few others from London to Canterbury.
Everything I learned at Electromagnetic Field 2026
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.
Week 289: To EMF, the hard way
After a quiet, normal Monday, I got up early on Tuesday morning, packed all my kit onto my bike, and set out for Herefordshire around 06:00.
Week 288: Lost baguette
This comes to you from a field in Gloucestershire, at the end of day two of my human-powered journey to Electromagnetic Field.