May 9 happens to be the 348th birthday of the first performance of Punch and Judy in Covent Garden recorded by Samuel Pepys in 1662. To celebrate, St Paul's Church in Covent Garden hosts an annual May Fayre in its back garden. Just for today, about 20 gaily painted mobile theaters squeeze in behind the church, carrying dueling P and J performances scheduled every 20 minutes or so. It's hard to resist the screeching, rude and hilarious antics of Mr Punch, Judy, baby, police man, burglar, crocodile, a sausage-making machine and the Devil, plus a host of other crazy characters such as cigarette smoking bulldog. All the kids are yelling at the stage as Punch misbehaves in extraordinarily bad and completely unpolitically correct ways. The churchyard was packed with kids and adults, along with vendors selling a miscellanyof garish Victorian paper theater kits, scripts of plays like Oliver Twist, along with cards, lapel buttons and various other strange and wonderful novelties. Throw in a fire eater performing on the back steps of the church who gently teased church goers exiting from the church, 4 pearly kings dressed in their mother-of-pearl button encrusted suits, and flower crowned ladies dancing around a maypole. Well, not something you get to see that often. A wonderful way to spend a cold and bleak Sunday. Great fun!