On Thursday I ventured into the local Trader Joe's to do some shopping and was asked at the check-out whether I planned on celebrating the 4th July - Independence Day. Tongue firmly in cheek I replied that I didn't see what I had to celebrate about, which fortunately was taken for the joke that it was. But it's an interesting point nonetheless. On my first day in work I joined one of the other interns on a tour of the building given to constituents and when he was talking about the British burning Washington I felt about ten eyes all on me, so I did the whole British 'no hard feelings?' routine.
But July 4th itself wasn't quite what I, or I think what anyone else, was expecting. I'd expected it to be this huge day of national outpouring, but that wasn't what I saw. Simply put there just weren't as many people around as I would have expected at such a major event. The day started off with a ceremonial reading of the Declaration of Independence outside the National Archives before the annual parade set off down Constitution Avenue along the Mall. The first few parts of the parade were nice, the Army, Navy, Air Force etc all decked out and marching perfectly.
But afterwards it descended somewhat into a more carnival type affair, with school marching band after marching band, and some really oddly placed giant inflatable blimps and floats - the American Mustang society anyone?
I did though appreciate the appearance made by Miss American Military Idol 2008. Unfortunately the whole parade rather petered out, ending with a bright yellow Penske hire van bringing up the rear, behind the float of the Taiwanese Friends of America.
Sadly, the day was so hot that we decided to head back to the apartment and to the safety of our air-conditioned rooms. But in the evening after dinner we ventured out again to the East Mall to watch the concert in front of Capitol Hill. Unfortunately we left too late to see that much of it, and only caught a few acts before moving on. But despite the brief visit, the event was much more what I expecting from the day - there were more people and there was an atmosphere that was lacking from earlier on.
After staying only a few minutes we were incredibly lucky as Corey, one of the other interns had managed to get us invitations to a roof viewing of the fireworks from one of the administrative buildings serving the House of Represenatives, so we all clambered out through his office window onto the balcony to watch the July 4th fireworks set to the 1812 overture.
Oddly we bumped into another English intern on the roof who was also over here for the Summer, but no-one seemed to mind their former oppressors enjoying the event on top of one of their administrative buildings. In fact, on the way back God Save the Queen, Jerusalem, and Land of Hope and Glory were all sung down along the Mall, but sadly they elicited no response, apart from one person who misheard the song and chastised her boyfriend for not singing too. I was a bit miffed to hear what I thought was God Save the Queen being played at the parade only to find out that apparently it was just the same music with different words - and to think that I was about to come over all patriotic.
Perhaps that was what was missing. I was expecting a patriotic outpouring, but it had more of the atmosphere of just being a day out in DC with some entertainment. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, it just wasn't quite what I expected to see, and I guess that disappointed slightly. But in hindsight, it's actually quite nice that people could just enjoy the day for what it is, a celebration, rather than having to stifle the feeling with political overtones that are probably more suited to times gone by.
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