Independence Day

Being British I do feel slightly awkward about Independence Day celebrations.

Last year we made the mistake of  going to Huntington Beach where unbeknown to us there was quite a significant Independence Day Parade taking place, lots of flag waving and pledging of the allegiance. It was a display of American patriotism at its very best, but we kept our heads firmly down and tried not to draw attention to ourselves, feeling distinctly like we'd gatecrashed a private party.

Various sections of American military personnel marched proudly past to rapturous applause followed by an assortment of local school bands, decorated floats and some elderly townsfolk who had presumably done something significant with their lives apart from just being old.

Huntington Beach was packed – people were crammed into the sidewalks; homeowners were perching on their roof tops; there were families having BBQ’s in the front yard where the sofa had been dragged outside so grandma could get a better view.

This year we knew better so we decided to keep a distinctly low profile.   No parades for us.

It was very hot and seeking refuge from the heat we decided we’d go to the movies where it would be nice and cool inside.  As I’ve mentioned before we are very lucky in Pasadena because we have a positive plethora of movie theatres all within walking distance and I wanted to go and see the latest installment of Pirates of the Caribbean. 

  

It’s very indicative of just how many more movies come out here than back in the UK because films tend to come and go from the big multiplexes very quickly.  Even blockbusters like Harry Potter don’t hang around here for more than a couple of weeks before the next big thing arrives, but with an abundance of movie screens I knew we’d be able to catch those Pirates somewhere.  Sure enough – they were showing at the “Academy 6” a very small movie theatre at the less salubrious end of main street Pasadena, a building reminiscent of something which  we would have lovingly  referred to back home as a flea pit.

At $2 a ticket it was almost cheaper than staying at home with the air conditioning on – and I got to sit and watch Johnny Depp for two hours.  That’s not bad.  The place was certainly better on the inside than the out, and exceeded my expectations with regard to comfort of seating and internal décor. It did take us a while to choose a seat however - every time we sat down we appeared to be viewing the screen at a slightly odd angle.  There were the usual disturbances of other people filtering in and out throughout the course of the film, including a couple with a dog (that’s a first) and there was also a rather annoying fuzzy green line which appeared down the middle of the screen half way during the film and stayed right to the very end, but hey, at $2 a ticket what can you expect?

At the end of the show we were thrust back out into the brilliant sunlight and the ghostly quiet of mid-afternoon Pasadena.  The streets were deserted – where was everyone? Were they really all sat at home watching Independence Day TV marathons? (Yes I saw these being advertised in the run up to 4 July – a whole day of watching and re-watching repeats of your favourite show - what a great way for US citizens to celebrate their independence from us Brits – slob out watching crap TV all day with a fast-food takeway.)

Later on we walked downtown and ate a meal in half empty restaurant, where rather ironically we noticed that the background music had a distinctly British feel about it - Mumford & Sons, Florence & the Machine. There we were a few weeks ago in Boston, walking the Freedom Trail and standing before a large bronze statue of American hero Paul Revere, famous for his midnight ride to warn the American revolutionists of imminent attack with his cry of "the British are coming, the British are coming".

Who'd have thought, 235 years later and, funnily enough, we're still here.