Experiencing Stuff Doing Nothing...

Fourth of July came and went and I saw what was there to see ; the usual and the unusual...

Since the 4th was quite strategically placed (naturally) on a Saturday , with a holiday on the 3rd, I guess it gave people more time to prepare for the revelry , barbecues et al. than it did the last time I was here.Also it being a Sunday the next day, was some rest guaranteed after a late night on Saturday. So this time I could see more fervor to being patriotic this year , which included wafting smell of meat on fire to the exact degree that makes cats go crazier in the yard than it would make them at a hundred mouse hunt. There were people parked on the bonnets of their parked vehicles in the firework vicinity, glugglugging down beer to down their drumsticks and grown ups playing baseball in the parking lot, and chaotic crazy traffic caused by some irresponsible poeple- in-hurry, that had some good Samaritans come out of their cars with small children astride their hips and desperately try to direct and control the traffic, while the LAPD stood aside and watched, doing nothing.

Earlier in the afternoon, we had assembled for an 'old boy's' high tea at a certain old boy's resident in Camerillo Valley.
For those who are wondering what the hell is 'Old Boys' ; we are some people who went to the same university in the past , and who have got in touch via Internet now, so that we can assemble for some good old nostalgia over goodies , which is always so much fun since we can relate to terms invented, terms used, and to experience terms that became redundant with misuse come to use again. The Jargon, the going over incidents and also discovering a lot of things that give closure to so many mysteries left unsolved...an Old Boy's get together is always a very satisfying fun event!

After a long drive back home we were back home since there was still some time to go before the fireworks started near the Shepherd's church area, which was closest to our resident in the valley. As we went to our backyard, we could hear some mild screams emanating from the neighbor's backyard on the left.

My sister rushed to see if anything was wrong, and what we discovered was Lime's Dream* come true. It was about four adult pairs huddled nude in a hot tub together. Earlier these neighbors had installed a fence on the boundary wall, saying that they needed 'privacy'.

So now we know what they need the privacy for.

I guess they were celebrating freedom as rebirth with actual symbolic nudity. Or maybe they actually wanted to feel free in the purist sense; free from the constriction of bonds of clothes too.

The fireworks were awesome, timed to music and the tunes of God Bless America and the National Anthem . But the crowd was crappy misbehaved. They had pitched their tents with beer coolers and their entire kitchens and garden chairs in the parking lots! There was absolutely no place to park at , so we misused my Brother in law's disability card to park in the disabled parking area, which was almost empty. ( ...well not actually misused it really since it is valid till 2011( ...well I'll change that to 'misused' since the BIL was not with us as we avoid taking him to public places after his recent COPD)) .

It was altogether a fun experience , nothing like the Independence Day that we celebrate in India, since all celebration there is restricted to public departments and educational institutions. We cannot even fly our flag atop our homes :( and anybody who is found wearing clothes in the tri-color semblance will be prosecuted and tried for having 'desecrated' the flag.

The 'celebration' of Indian Independence Day ( 15th August) each year is restricted to some patriotic speeches given each year, which include strings of names of our freedom fighters, and during which the school children are made to stand in the hot sun for hours together , to 'participate' in the 'celebration' and which evidently lead to about 10% of them having fainting spells from heat stroke. Believe me , Its the same story year after year after year, that I have witnessed starting from my own time at school, to listening to my son relate the same fainting episodes from his schools.

Then the Chief Guest ( whoever it is) is made to unfurl the National flag, which never flutters in the wind, but hangs limp on its pole, the reason being it getting heavy and moisture laden in the hot humid climate, with practically no wind blowing in that season.

Ok, so this post is becoming a comparative case study of sort. Therefore I will end it here.

Hope you all had a good spell of holidays~

* Lime spoke about having 'visions' of neighbors strutting naked in their yards once .