Dress Rehearsal

May Morning really is a bit of a fiesta in Oxford and after 500-odd years of revelry this is the second miserable year that it hasn't been. One of the usual highlights is Oxford's Street band, Horns of Plenty, and although performances are not allowed at the moment, six of them had a rehearsal this morning in Florence Park bandstand shelter. (Another six were rehearsing in Botley and another six elsewhere.) A few of us got to hear about it and were able to dance on the grass in the cold morning sunlight. Witty as ever, their pièce de résistance was 'Don't Stand so Close to Me'.

After a mid-day bit of XRing I suddenly got the urge this afternoon to do something a bit better than last year with my ancient mosquito net. I managed to get the very last bunch of canes from our nearby hardware/gardening shop and, using a few lengths of gaffer tape, create the structure in extras - cunningly around the strawberry plants already there from last year - ready for my miniature and delicate lettuces and peas.