SUMMER IS A CUMIN` IN ?

I took this photo a couple of years ago on our first evening in Padstow....   

Now today being May Day, normally the place to be would be Padstow, where May Day is celebrated with a tradition going back in the mists of time and despite having stayed there and visited on a number of occasions, I still have the ambition to be there on this very special day - maybe one year before it`s too late?

What makes it special is, of course, the mixture of the 24-hour singing and dancing with the two rival `osses cavorting round every street in the town - all designed to herald the coming of Summer and banishing the chill of winter for another year.   The singing changes from the night song to the day song and all the while it has that haunting melody and compelling rhythm. And among it all comes the dirge, whose origins are a mystery even to the good folk in the town museum, where I enquired about the meaning behind the dirge and the identity of aunt Ursula Birdhood, who had an old yow and who lies in her own parc o.  Here`s a taster......... 

Of course, this year none of that is happening and Padstow is a bit of a ghost town right now. But whilst we are still going through these very difficult times, I still give thanks for the fact that May is here, as do `the little birds that merrily do sing in the merry morning of May...`