I was late for the early train to Ely by two minutes. Running into the station , the departure's monitor was missing from its place on the platform.
I planned on listening to the German Language recordings on my Ipod, but strangely enough there was a young German couple seated next to me for most of the journey. I tried to understand their conversation. On arriving at Ely I bought early morning coffee and waited for the train for Birmingham.
I was feeling ill by the time I arrived in Birmingham. I headed straight to a shop to buy bottled water and Headache Pills. I followed the familiar landmarks to the Menzies Hotel. A sad but true fact was, I knew that I was headed the right direction when I saw the Spearmint Rhino Club. For some reason I remember walking past there last year.
Paid five pounds for Brumcon. Savvy tried to sell me a Brumcon T-shirt. Paid for Hotel room. Went to room for wash. had half an hour to kill before the conference started so went to shops. What was odd was that the woman behind the counter noticed I had lots of loose change and wanted to exchange it. We stood there a few minutes counting loose change.
Sat at the back of Brumcon, the first talk was by Foxwhisper. I can't stand these talks and articles in magazines defining a hacker. But Foxwhisper did bring a interesting perspective into the frame on having a criminal record and trying to find work as a Pentester.
McFly arrived with the other German hackers wearing his dark shades. Someone who sat next to me began to make conversation. I managed to find-out he was working as an Pentester. I guessed the company he was working for...QineticQ. Yes, the very same company that keeps popping into the limelight every so often.
During the break I went to the bar, which on the bad side had a large tv screen showing football, and sold small bottles of orange juice for £1.50. Though the good thing was that there was a cute Asian girl tending the bar. My tv-bgone battery had died. Otherwise that tv would have definetly got it.
During the first break a wedding party arrived outside the hotel complete with Bagpipes player. There was a bit of confusion when one of the Germans not being able to see out the window thought the bagpipes tune was somebodies mobile phone. Reload's wife and a few others peered out the window trying to get on the wedding video.
Later a guy called Les played some live electronic music. It was good but I took the opportunity to go to my hotel room and get my laptop. When I returned les was still playing. Most people where chatting and laughing, I think Les got the idea that people weren't interested, my theory was backed-up after reading his blog entry here.
Les said The Better...Towards the end McFly said a bit about the 'Chaos Computer Club.' He mentioned that the 'CCC' had recently published the fingerprints of one of the German Interior ministers. I started to clap, but I soon stopped after I realised I was the only person. Reload mentioned that they are trying to organized a larger conference like the CCC in 2010.
I left to go eat in a Kebab shop. I had a large pizza and Pepsi for under £5. I then went for a long walk. It's Saturday night so every so often twats in pink Limos, drove past cheering out of the car window. If they had given prior warning I would have arranged for a pole with some rusty nails to scratch their faces off.
I walked past all the club goers to the centre of Birmingham. A stage had been setup for the Birmingham Dance Festival. It had drawn a large crowd. Ignoring the crowd I continued on trying to find the Chinese quarter. During my search I was approached my a girl saying she was homeless.
After I made it back to the hotel I watched some telly and fell asleep. The girl who asked me for money had reminded me of some one in my past, I cared about, I couldn't help thinking I could have done better to help her.
At around four in the morning I was thirsty and decided to go to the shop for drink. Down in the Hotel lobby their were police questioning a woman about an attack. At the shop there was a young guy arguing with the shop keepers. They were arguing about using the phone. When I left the shop someone called out hello. I ignored them and carried on walking. The person persisted and on the fifth hello I turned to see who it was. The black lady said in a Brummy accent," I was beginning to think you were deaf." She then walked with me and started to ask all sorts of questions about where was I from? why am I in Birmingham? Then," Am I walking with you, or wasting my time ?" I said," Pardon?" She repeated the question then said," do you want a blowjob, or some nice sex?" I said no thank-you and walked away. All this within the space of ten minutes of waking-up. wtf ? I ignored the police and went back to bed.
