I got up at 4:30am this morning to observe an old
Oxford tradition - greeting the
May Day dawn. I went down to
Magdalen Bridge and watched the college choir stand on top of their stone tower and sing hymns as the sun rose, like they've being doing for God knows how many hundred years. And as the sunlight crept down the tower from the choir to the people watching below, the mists cleared and the moon set and the birds flew circles round the tower as the bells rang out to welcome
spring.
Of course the effect was completely spoiled by the 5,000 other people who had also come to observe the ceremony - most of them a bit drunk to convince themselves that getting up at 4:30 in the morning really was a sensible idea, and one idiot who decided it would be a really good idea to jump off the bridge into the river (so observing another old Oxford tradition). Still, nature made the effort!
Now it's 6:30am and I've 4 hours before any sane people start doing normal things like lectures. Or I could always go out and join the Morris Dancers around their maypole.
Just as I write this a
rogue choir has started singing on the roof of this building. Better go out and look!