This will be the very first July 4th I’ve ever spent outside the U.S., and I find myself with mixed feelings.
Of course, Over Here the day is nothing special, and given the reason behind the day’s festivities, I hesitate to rub the nose of my host country in the loss of its greatest colony. Still:
I miss the 4th. I miss the parades, the patriotism, the July 4th TV shows and the Revolutionary War parades that are all over the place. So, from all the way over The Pond, and from one of your most grateful adopted citizens:
Happy Birthday, America.
Y’all have a hot dog and some BBQ for me today. And if anyone says anything ugly about the U.S.A., I give you my full and unconditional endorsement to kick his ass.
You got it Pahdner…..and right back at you!
To be honest, given the perspective of over 1,000 years of British history, losing the colonies wasn’t that big a blow. It really was just a footnote to one of their periodic wars with France. I would argue that losing India and the Middle East hurt them far worse.
Range trip today- took my privately owned guns to shoot with about the same amount of fuss as a trip to the golf course.
Got to love a country where you can still privately own the same semi-automatic pistol as your military, and better ammo.
Thank you, fellow American.
Today was a quiet day at home. The local PD is doing mass sweeps to get folks using fireworks this year (everything down to sparklers, smoke, and snakes have been banned here) so I was limited to using the Bangsite cannon at opportune moments.
I’m recalling Rachel Lucas’ posts about her time in England, and missing the US, having trouble finding hot dogs (except some horrible canned ones), perhaps even an Independence Day missive.
We actually had a work team building trip to an outdoor range last Saturday. 22 people, including 11 who had never handled a gun before and spent the first few hours getting safety training and shooting .22LR handgun and rifle, then 9mm handgun, then AR15. There was trap, bowling pins, paper targets, “poker” targets, dueling trees, and more, ending the day with Tannerite. It was a lot of fun, and at least four of the new adult shooters say they’re going to sign up for the (spit) state FOID card so they can get guns and ammo (the ARs were particularly popular). And some of the kids say they want to continue shooting, with parents at least sounding positive about it. Not a bad day at all.
I can sympathize, Kim. Last summer I took my wife and kids to visit a foreign (and very totalitarian) culture and Independence Day fell right in the middle of our visit. Despite this place being vehemently anti-American, someone still shot off fireworks over the bay, so we were able enjoy the fourth – even from Berkley!