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Me being in America, and it being the 4th of July yesterday, I got to be a Brit among Patriots. We went into central Boston, where there was supposed to be a reading of the Declaration of Independence, except it didn't happen - there was a sign in crayon on the gate saying "State House Closed," so presumably they'd declared their own independence and taken the day off, or something. So we trickled about a bit. Nearly everyone we saw was wearing something obviously patriotic, some more risibly than others.
We went to the USS Constitution museum, which is basically about this one boat, but somewhat about why the US came to have a navy in the first place - a lot of stuff about how evil the British were. Apparently they spent a fair bit of time press-ganging American ships to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. While this isn't exactly polite, I can't be as appalled as the displays seemed to want me to be; after all, *everyone* was being press-ganged at that point, it's not that the Americans were being picked on more than the drunk-in-the-pub family man who woke up not only to a hangover but also to seasickness.
Another striking thing is how much energy and effort America puts into dissing The British. My education touched on this topic, but it didn't get nearly so het up about it - we just didn't care. Colonies come, colonies go, you know? But the Americans I meet seem to expect me to be all angry about having "lost," which I find very funny. All these poor saps getting so worked up about this terrific victory, about which I could not care less. Oy.
They have kick-ass fireworks in Boston, though. Lots and lots and lots, including ones which made smiley faces and heart shapes, and lavish showers of crackly golden rain, and some funny things that started off like a regular firework but then turned into long strings of green balls, which hung in the air and crept around like shiny caterpillars.
Now it is raining and we are doing launrdy.
We went to the USS Constitution museum, which is basically about this one boat, but somewhat about why the US came to have a navy in the first place - a lot of stuff about how evil the British were. Apparently they spent a fair bit of time press-ganging American ships to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. While this isn't exactly polite, I can't be as appalled as the displays seemed to want me to be; after all, *everyone* was being press-ganged at that point, it's not that the Americans were being picked on more than the drunk-in-the-pub family man who woke up not only to a hangover but also to seasickness.
Another striking thing is how much energy and effort America puts into dissing The British. My education touched on this topic, but it didn't get nearly so het up about it - we just didn't care. Colonies come, colonies go, you know? But the Americans I meet seem to expect me to be all angry about having "lost," which I find very funny. All these poor saps getting so worked up about this terrific victory, about which I could not care less. Oy.
They have kick-ass fireworks in Boston, though. Lots and lots and lots, including ones which made smiley faces and heart shapes, and lavish showers of crackly golden rain, and some funny things that started off like a regular firework but then turned into long strings of green balls, which hung in the air and crept around like shiny caterpillars.
Now it is raining and we are doing launrdy.