Jazz, Bier and a day off

Whilst it's a normal working day in the UK, many other countries today are celebrating May Day rolled into Ascension Day.

May Day is a joyous occassion in Gemany. Ever since 1919 it's been a public holiday here, with the largest trade unions holding marches up and down the country. By far the greatest crowd puller, however, is the "Maibaum", which almost every community puts up. The trees are festively decorated with wreathes and ribbons, there's dancing and, because this is Bavaria, large quantities of Bier are cheerfully consumed. The local brew, I should add, is the best you'll ever sip. We live in the Hallertau, which is the largest intact hop-growing area in the world.

Beata and I spent the morning at a "Frhschoppen", literally "early mug" - of beer, of course. Sitting on long communal beergarden benches, we tucked into american-size portions of sausage and sauerkraut, and , my favourites "Reibedatschi" - potato pancakes laced with apple puree. The liter jug of Bier was more than I could manage. But no Bavarian would dare order anything smaller. Playing in the background was a band valled "d'Vahunackldn", a jazz act which jumped effortlessly between traditional Bavarian beer-drinking tunes and traditional Dixieland. Just the right thing for a lovely sunny day off.

The nice thing about this month is there are two more Public Holidays to look forward to: Whit Monday and The Feast of Corpus Christi.