Independence Day

Today is the Fourth of July, the day the U.S. of A. declared its independence in the year 1776. It has since become the national holiday; however, since today is also Sunday, the actual holiday will be on Monday, by law. (By the same law, the holiday is on a Friday when the Independence Day is on a Saturday, like last year.)
However, regardless of the importance of this day to the Americans, my colleagues and I had to spend some time in the lab today. We were of course particularly unhappy about going to work on a Sunday that is also the national holiday, but we had a big maintenance day on Friday that required additional measures on two extra days. While it would have been possible to postpone the extra work until after the celebrations, it would have meant that the experiments can be resumed only by Wednesday. Time is always an issue in our lab, so we had to go through with this. At least on the way home I caught a glimpse of the decoration of our street with a host of Star Spangled Banners. Someone is doing this every year, and I did take a few pictures last year, but I hope the video will reveal better the affection of the Americans for their country. I apologize for going to work today, but at least I would like to say to everyone, "Happy Birthday America!"