Padstow celebrates the advent of summer on May 1st with its ‘obby ‘oss festivities. A”better day” was forecast and the morning began dry, if not sunny. There are childrens’ ‘oss processions to start the day but they begin a little too early for relaxed retired folks though, this year, they were still going as we arrived. Carol and I went to cheer on the blue ‘oss (the peace ‘oss) which emerges at 10:00 AM. The red ‘oss (the original ‘oss) emerges from its stable at 11:00 AM. Not being Padstonians, we didn’t have any preconceived allegiances but for the previous two years we’d managed to get close enough to actually see the blue ‘oss whereas we’d not managed to get anywhere near the red ‘oss. The blue ‘oss seems more accessible so it’s the blue ‘oss for us.
As well as an amazing amount of beer and cider being consumed, there’s also an extraordinary number of pasties sold. Given the variety available in Padstow on May Day, one could make a lifetime study of pasties but, to protect the waistline as much as possible, we settle for enjoying a pasty from the Chough Bakery for brunch.
Unfortunately, this year, someone forgot to tell the weather that this was the advent of summer. A lack of sun may remove any harsh shadows but the colours of Padstow’s May Day celebrations don’t sparkle as they might without it. Pictures of the maypole against a grey sky just don’t cut it. Nonetheless we clicked away with gay abandon burning up the pixels. Well, you have to, don’t you?
The morning remained dry for the various ‘oss processions. Dark clouds gathered and our now familiar old enemy rain set in the entire afternoon. It seems that the definition of a good or better day is now officially one in which it rains for only half the day, either in the morning or in the afternoon but not both.
Our longed-for grass pitch is squelchy and quite boggy. I may not particularly enjoy hard-standing but I’m beginning to see its advantage. I hope we don’t get stuck here. 🙁
No rain here, just sun and heat. Hope you are keeping that Kingsford dry!