“When it’s cold outside, I got the month of May”
The Temptations. ‘My Girl’
Must have been a different type
of May when they wrote that. The last few days it has been pretty “Baltic” with
the wind literally coming down from the Arctic. I can’t imagine how cold it has
felt further north? That said, last Saturday, it was glorious. May at its best,
reminding us that summer is pretty much here, though since then it has felt
rather different. May is that type of month. Granted it can be chilly, it can
be wet, its “rough winds do shake the darling buds” on occasion, to quote Mr
Shakespeare, but it can be glorious. The blue sky seems just a little ‘bluer’,
the sun a little higher, the trees a little greener. The birds are singing. The
dawn chorus is close to reaching its peak. Listen out. Six am is about the best time, if you can
manage. The dawn chorus on a clear morning is one of nature’s greatest examples
of pure revelry. Exuberant, intense, and powerful, yet poetic at the same time.
A cacophony of birdsong blending into one, each song itself being
distinguishable. The natural world’s own example of a symphony. It doesn’t
matter if you don’t know which birds are singing. In this case, ignorance and
bliss, are definitely not mutually exclusive.
Thinking
about May, in general, it is a fascinating month. A month of revelry, colour
and exuberance. I personally have never danced around the maypole with gay
abandon but I’m sure it’s fun. In medieval days, May was a month for jousting
competitions, the period’s equivalent of the cup final. A celebration of
athletic prowess, colour and pageantry. I can picture it well: The knights’ colourful
shields shining brightly in the sunshine. The magnificent horses in their
armour. Pretty damsels with their
elaborate headgear. Trumpets blaring. Then the joust, itself. Highly impressive
skills. It’s scary and difficult enough galloping on a horse, let alone
carrying a fifteen foot pole too. That said, they didn’t have sunglasses, gin
and tonic or public toilets in those days so I’m relatively happy to admire it
from afar, to preserve the romanticism. I do also question the origin of
“damsel in distress”. The toilet facilities - whatever they were - at a joust
seem as likely as a lonely castle tower? And talking of cup finals, back in the
day before football had become the bloated, global and over-exposed circus it
is now, the national cup final (alway in May) was arguably the highlight of the domestic calendar,
being one of the only games to be televised live. Unimaginable now. Amongst my
favourite football memories are watching the players come out at Hampden park
(in Glasgow), fans waving their flags, as the Scottish pipe band - in formation - played
away in the middle of the pitch. I also liked the opening to the English cup
final at Wembley as the proud managers lead their teams right across the middle
of the pitch with the crowd cheering. A little more theatrical the entrance of
the English version, methinks. Interesting
enough too, it seems to me that the pitch was never greener than on cup final
day?
May is also the only month which is
a verb as well a name; “May I?”. A polite verb at that. I like May. It may, in fact, be my favourite month? Well
it’s up there. ‘January’ I? Yes you ‘January’, just doesn’t have the same ring
to it. Neither does ‘January Jones ‘january’ be my favourite actress.’ Some
things are just meant to be. They work. She’s not incidentally, lest you judge
me or question my motivations. I did like her in ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Mad Men’ though.
One more observation on the
weather. These last couple of months, politicians have talked of a “new
normal”. I try not to pay much attention to them but as a reference to the meteorological
conditions, it would be quite apt as a description. Since this whole lockdown
started the weather has been a bit more akin to Malaga than the UK. Blue, calm
skies ruled the roost in most of March, if my memory serves me well. April
was apparently the sunniest on record. There, of course, have been some
exceptions to this, one very wet and cold week at the end of last month and some
cold spells but much of the time, it has been glorious. The gentility and
stillness of the weather adding a spooky vibe to the deserted streets. Quite
how the summer will pan out in these odd times, we shall have to see, but remember
to enjoy the nice days. Don't forget that “summer’s lease hath all too short a
date.” May your day be a pleasant one.
