James posing with pump. Me returning from arguing with cashier —
"there's no trust in this country."
Desert, 2013
I went to Burning Man a few weeks ago. It was the singular most incredible experience of my life. While I'd love to go again, I don't actually need to go — it was quite sufficient as the Great Big Pivotal Moment in Mark's Life.
I'm grateful to my colleagues last week for letting me land back into work gently. It's strange to return to any "normal" life after Burning Man, even if "normal" is living in a summer house, overlooking a canal, three minutes walk from your office in Amsterdam, one of the most creative and interesting cities in the world. To be honest, I think it's helped. Burning Man is of a scale and density very similar to Amsterdam. The layout's similar too — a U-shaped ring of streets. Except there aren't any canals in the Black Rock desert. It's hardly stopped raining since I got back to Holland, which I think is somebody trying to make a point. And everyone gets around on bikes.
And Amsterdam has Albert Heijn, which you don't get at Burning Man.
I'm not sure how to explain the experience, really, so I'm going to start by listing out my Burning Man playlist, which I compiled a week before in London. I played it in the car as we drove north from Reno into the desert proper, with my friends Beth Whiteside and James Byous. It was a brilliant moment that I'll never forget and set in train so much discussion about other music between us through the week. The playlist is also available on Spotify.