This place is pretty amazing even when there’s no burningdork happening. We were in the Scout Leader’s Training Centre, past the rifle range, below the go-karting track. Apart from several clearings and a big fire circle, there was a beautiful old lodge-type building with a hard-wood floor, an industrial-scale kitchen full of assorted strange catering equipment (a full set of balti dishes, but not one sharp knife.. weird) and little needlepoint mottos on the wall like ‘a scout’s pledge is to do his honour to God and the Queen’.
We arrived a few hours before an enormous pile of organic vegetables was delivered by these people: http://organic-gmfree.co.uk/ which April DeLaurier marshalled a small gang into cooking with remarkable efficiency. I think that meal was African sweet potato soup with coriander, delicious spelt-flour cornbread and yoghurt. mmm. What happened to the leftovers!? Then we pitched tents, got drunk and went to sleep.
Saturday was rainy and everyone crammed into the scout hut and the workshops started with an amazing degree of energy and enthusiasm. First I did Ralf Schreiber, Christian and Sebastian’s ‘building self-sufficient electronic animals’ workshop, which was amazingly inspiring. Yoshi Imamura was on hand (in most situations actually) to give great advice on how to bend components through PCBs, hold and cut them efficiently and solder with grace.. It was a bit chilly on Saturday, so I was glad to have the chance to try fire-making in Paul Granjon’s workshop. As several onlookers pointed out – even if you don’t get a blaze started, all that energy expended in making smoke without fire warms you up wonderfully. Later that day (I missed a bit as I had some pickups from the station), under Anita’s supervision I reacquainted myself with knitting, badly. Scarves only for me I’m afraid. But I enjoyed what little I had time to do as we prepared the next feast – bean and cheese burritos with salsa, rice and salad. Mmm.
The presentations started as the meal was being prepared. After being used to the dorkbot crowd as an urban, mobile grouping that shifts and changes as people come and go, it was great to see everyone actually living in the same field and paying wrapt attention to each other’s presentations. As Gavin Starks was giving his presentation about music and astro physics, Adrian handed out some incredibly delicious bowls of Yoshi’s miso soup which kept everyone going until burrito time! Yay! Then Greenman opened his dodgy bar, Matthew Venn made a really wonderful wild apple and blackberry crumble, and headphone performances began. I was still going to and from the station, so I missed many of them, but caught a few amazing highlights. Again the room filled with wrapt dorkbots, headphones on, while outside fires were built and nasty liqueurs were consumed.
At 5am Sunday morning, I packed up my hammock and sneaked out to cycle like a loonie to Gatwick. I caught my 8am plane – just, with 10 minutes to spare, but thanks to those of you who offered to wake up at 6am and drive me there anyway 🙂 Of course I’m also bitterly disappointed that I missed the clean-up 😉
Anyone care to fill in a few blanks? What happened on Sunday? I can see you all built and burned a big stupid thing. Well done! I’m annoyed I missed that bit too.
Next year : dorkbot-on-sea! Any suggestions for a location? Maybe somewhere near http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/orfordness/ Maybe on an island somewhere hot! (by Saul Albert)
The leftovers seemed to form part of Sunday lunch/dinner. Javier’s amazing paella and Paul’s delicious potato non-omlette (vegan omlette) featured prominently as well. We heard stories about you leaving at 5:15, told by some of those nocturnal folks who were just going to sleep at that time. My headphone performance was last, and only a few people remained. However, after the headphone performances, there was an impromptu, relatively low-volume, laptop + feedback + vibrating inflatable chair + kitchen utensil jam session at the dodgy bar, it was great fun. Nobody complained so I guess it was not too loud! Alejandro managed to patch my feedback machine output into a sample looper and digital effects program on a laptop, Ian provided something like a beat from another laptop, and Evan played a mean eggbeater rhythm, some other people I don’t remember who, were participating as well. No recording as far as I know. Dot was fooling people into believing that she was drinking organo-luminescent fluid by aiming a concealed torch into the base of the glass containing that weird blue liqueur from the dodgy bar. Then Lucy impressed everyone with her collection of pop ring tone midi files played on a laptop around the campfire. I got up rather late on Sunday, ‘lunch’ was sort of find what you can or what you brought, with some advance paella and leftover soup. The wireless was up and running since the raindrop interference was solved by virtue of not having rain. So, I checked my email. How exciting. Some more laptop jamming round the campfire with Ian and company, then I produced a small carved wooden circuit diagram for the Dork that others were hard at work to build from stray pallets and stuff. There was a tissue paper balloon making frenzy, at least, I got to help lay the sheets out in order , and to hold the balloon during inflation. After a test inflation, the balloon was refolded and some presentations were given. I can’t remember which ones were on Sunday and which on Saturday, there was some amazing video feedback effect going on at some point. More of Yoshi’s miso soup; even better if that’s possible, and the full version of Javier’s paella then appeared. Some conversation about Japanese Moomins was going on in the kitchen. Then the burning of the ‘dork’, flashing light-bulb eyes and karoke voice. It was plugged into the mains until the light bulbs stopped flashing. All bets about whether it would fall forward or backward were lost because it fell sideways. People danced around it while playing music on laptops. Followed by the tissue paper balloon ascent. It proved not to quite lift its own burner , after quite some time of holding it , and then holding it over the remaining fire to get extra hot air, and breathing hot smoke, the shouts of several onlookers to ditch the built-in burner and frame and just hold the tissue part over the fire were heeded and the balloon took off. (then it came back down) Unfortunately Dot and I, who had been helping to hold it steady for a while when it was not lifting enough, went to get fresh drinks from the kitchen for just a minute, possibly required due to smoke inhalation … during which time it took off! Aargh. Then April, Adrian and I left in Adrian’s car . (by Robert Atwood)