Early morning call

Aside

I meant to have a lie in this morning but before 6am I was awakened from a nightmare. In my dream half a dozen hostages, including two women, were huddled in a shelter and were being stoned by an angry mob. I could still hear the thud of the stones and the menacing drumbeat - even though I was wide awake. Then I realised it was the first of May and the dreaded Minehead Hobby Horse was at large.

There are photos on the web site but all seem to be copyright

www.minehead-online.co.uk/hobbyhorse.htm Look here if you are curious. It was started to frighten off Viking invaders and to represent King of the May. The aim is to collect money for charity and anyone who refuses to cough up is ‘mock menaced’ by this slightly spooky apparition. The loud beating of the drum and squeeze- box intensifies the feeling of intimidation. One of these days I’ll get up at crack of dawn, brave the monster and take photos. Maybe next year.

Yesterday I saw the girls and they were sympathetic about our aborted week-end. Jackie is on her own with the cats whilst her daughter and SIL are away and is being driven dotty by the cats bringing in rabbits to keep her company. We planned our next day out in June. As we all have new bus passes we are going to go along the coast to Lynton – quite a hairy drive by car. It’s an open top bus so it could be wet and windy over the moor but we are not wimps.