Mayhem

Many thanks for the kind response to yesterday's. I felt a bit lost today, perhaps because the definition of who I am has changed. Or, more likely, because I got up at 4.45 to take the three singers from Grenoble who are staying with me to May Morning.

After walking through Christ Church Meadow we were in a good place to hear the songs and I was surprised that the young singers on top of Magdalen Tower were having a go at crowd-rousing. They were a lot less disciplined than last time I was here.

I took my guests to see the Morris dancers impressively staying upright on the cobbles in Radcliffe Square and dancing more or less in time even though the church bells drowned out their music. Then to the Green Band in Broad Street which this year had a clear Extinction Rebellion edge to it (extra).

The first place we tried for breakfast was offering only pints of beer or mulled cider so I took my guests somewhere more solid. I was a bit disappointed that they all opted for Viennoiserie rather than Oxford Rarebit or bacon and scrambled eggs but I'll have them eating an English breakfast before they leave. They were bemused by the city becoming completely normal by 8am - why, after all the dancing in the street, doesn't everyone just get 1 May off work like the rest of Europe? I can't answer that one.

Our rehearsal this evening could have been worse, though the Oxfordiens and the Grenoblois have a slight difference of opinion over how to pronounce 17th century French Latin.