HAPPY 4TH JULY - ON THE 3RD - NOW THAT'S SILLY!

Hello Lovely Blippers

You are probably wondering why some of us are holding an American Flag - well it’s in honour of Mrs. HCB’s new relatives, who all live in the United States of America and she thought it would be a good idea to celebrate the 4th July a day early!  You may remember that she had done some work on her Family History and her DNA, well it seems as if a lot of her relatives, although of Italian descent, live in America.  It’s also for all her Blip friends who live there too and, of course, they will know it’s silly because today is only the 3rd July. 

We had enough flags for most of us to hold one, and Hoggy was a bit miffed that he didn’t have one, but we told him he could hold ours later and that seemed to satisfy him!  It's just a shame that Paddington has gone back home - he would have loved to join in!

Mrs. HCB went shopping early and bought the marshmallows, but she also bought Jelly Babies, some Haribo Tangfastics and a packet of Werther’s Original Butter Candies, which sounds a bit American, but the Haribos and Werthers are originally from Germany so that’s a bit silly too.  When she got home, Mrs. HCB was really upset because she had bought some Reeses Pieces that ARE made in America, but she must have left them in her shopping trolley :-(    She made up for being upset though by eating some of the Jelly Babies and the marshmallows - we shall have to watch her, that’s for sure.  

We looked on the internet and apparently, although we don’t celebrate St. George’s Day in England, Americans celebrate the Fourth of July every year, and this year, in 2021, it marks the 245th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

In case you don’t know and we certainly didn’t, (and we are pretty sure Mrs. HCB didn’t know either - her education in that regard is obviously sadly lacking) Independence Day, also known as the Fourth of July, marks the birth of America and the day the US secured independence from the British Empire.  

Years ago, we might have looked all this up in Encyclopaedia Britannica, but things have moved on somewhat since Mr. and Mrs. HCB were young so we found out this information from the internet : 

“On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies of America, then at war with Britain, declared themselves to be states of a new nation and the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

The Thirteen Colonies were a group of colonies run by the British, who first started colonising North America in the 16th Century, but in 1775 the Continental Congress – a meeting of delegates from the colonies – declared a war of independence against Britain.” 

We also found out that in lots of big towns in America they celebrate with a big firework displays, barbecues and picnics as well as watching baseball games, so we thought we would have a party of our own with hot dogs, hot chocolate and marshmallows.  We know it’s a bit silly for us to do it, because we aren’t American, but you know Mrs. HCB, anything for a party, so here we are, waving our flags and hoping that our new American relatives and our American Blip friends don’t think we have all gone quite mad.

The other reason we are doing it is because we want to remember Admirer, who started up the whole Silly Saturday thing, but sadly she died - however, we do our best to carry it on in her memory and we think she would laugh about us doing this, but it’s a good excuse for a party.  I guess in this country, instead of baseball, we might go and watch a game of football or cricket!  We think Mr. HCB will be watching the football game later when he hopes that England beats Ukraine and Mrs. HCB will probably still be chomping through the Jelly Babies and marshmallows!

Have a great weekend and especially if you are American - and we hope the sun shines on you, wherever you are.

Love from

JH Ted, Tiny, Snowy, Penny Penguin and Hoggy xxxxx

P.S.  Did I hear someone say that Mrs. HCB could have eaten all the Reeses Pieces on her way home - well she could have, but she assures us she didn't!