There were rumours that Dave, the landlord at the 'Viccy arms' (more properly known as the Victoria Arms, Old Marston, and the scene of Part 1 of Anthony's birthday shennannigans last Sunday), had cancelled the 'cooked breakfast for a fiver' part of festivites, but that didn't stop us turning up at 6am, fiddles and flutes in hand, demanding pints to lubricate our voices for the annual May Day celebration. Then it was full swing into a serious session, laden with the songs I have come to think of as "May Day" and "spring" songs - Hal and Toe; Sumer is a Cumen in; John Barleycorn (both versions!); and a long playlist of tunes and reels that get a regular airing down at the Half Moon on Sundays.
I'm learning gradually that this way of celebrating is probably a uniquely Oxford thing - the lads and lasses I work with all come from places other than Oxford, and they were mystified that people did anything with May 1, but professed to admire my dedication.
Naturally, as I had the day off and they didn't, they rang me at 9am to check how merry the boss was at such an ungodly hour... Luckily, by then, the landlord's wife had relented and cooked us all brekkie (for a fiver). And I was, after all, still only on my second pint
My stamina gave out early this year - I pedalled home and back to bed before lunchtime - but I did better than Ants, who still wasn't up when I made it home...
Happy May all!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment