I’m off to the Europython conference; My heart is aflutter because I’m running rather late and I know how bad the queues for budget air-lines can be. I’ve never travelled on Ryan-air before and I am expecting the very worst possible experience. This is conference day zero because technically it does not start until tomorrow and in any case all good computer scientists make a habit of counting from zero.
Initially I was expecting a weak line-up; At the time I registered the presentation roster was empty and the attendee list was meagre; but in the last few weeks both have grown and I’m quite impressed at what the conference management have achieved. I’ve barely been able to keep up with the high-bandwidth conference mailing list.
This is also the first Open-Source conference I have attended; I’ve been told by frequent conference attendees to lower my expectations. Open source conferences have a minimal budget and therefore lack even the most rudimentary glitz; This will be a glitz free zone.
My accommodation is going to be a shared room in a student’s union owed building. I booked the cheapest kind of room available, so I will be sharing with three others; All will be python developers like myself; I have no idea who these individuals will be.
And what a fool I am; I’m still plagued by nagging doubts; What if there are two cities in Europe called Gothenburg, one in Sweden (where I am headed), but another somewhere far far away, perhaps in a destination that I will not possibly be able to afford to fly to. And I will be forced to spend a fruitless three nights in a cold Nordic country, all alone and unloved.
In any case; All my fears may be for nothing; I might not even get to the airport at this rate. As I type this, the train has been stuck on the tracks outside Stanstead for the last fifteen minutes, going absolutely nowhere.
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