Day 40: May Day

It's the First of May; May Day, one of the cross-quarter days, also known as Beltane, the beginning of the Celtic summer season. For the last few years (ever since Maria joined them) we've got up to see the sun danced up with the Tiddley Cove women's Morris dancers and the Vancouver Morris Men. The weather forecast was perfect and even though Tiddley Cove (TCM for short) weren't dancing until noon, we still went to watch the men's team dance. This year there was even a television camera with a reporter for Global TV BC. For all his filming and interviewing, the slot on the evening news was a scant two-and-a-half minutes of edited snippets. I made sure I wasn't in a position to have a furry microphone thrust under my nose, keeping myself mobile and busy taking photos of my own :-)

Come lunchtime, it was the ladies' turn and I joined Maria and the rest of TCM in Yaletown to dance to the largely disinterested young and fashionably upwardly mobile audience. But the light was perfect for getting good photos, and the colourful red and white dresses look wonderful against a blue sky. The last stop on the tour was a park with a children's play area, complete with shock-absorbing ground cover. There was one point where I could get a view of the dance with a clear view down an alley through to the Harbour Centre tower and beyond to Mt Seymour. Vancouver, Morris dancing and mountains, all in one shot. Seemed to sum up living here...

May Day Morris dancing