When I dropped my hubby off at Penkhull it was amazing to see three or four hundred people crowded on either side of the road getting ready to set off on the Wassail. There were people carrying lit flaming torches which Sent sparks up into the windy air. I let hubby out of the car next to the Domesday Morris dancers, they were dressed in their costumes with fairy lights wrapped around their hats. The sun was about to set and I wished I was going with them down the hill to the ancient apple tree to beat its boughs so that it will be fruitful in autumn. They would be walking around some of the boundaries of the village and stopping off to dance on the church green then calling in at the local pubs and the choir I am with would be singing Wassail songs outside them. Unfortunately I missed all of that. But I went home and had a rest instead.