Happy 4th July!

Not much doubt about what to blip today!

In 1937, a United States congressman put in a request for an old, torn flag which had been flown over the Capitol. This eventually evolved into the Capitol Flag Program, where members of the public can request a flag to be flown, such as to commemorate a special event, a birthday or anniversary or to honour an organisation's work. More than 100,000 flags a year are now flown and, afterwards, each flag is issued a Certificate of Authenticity by the Architect of the Capitol and sent to the person who made the request to keep. Also included is a copy of any speech or prayer said during the raising of the flag and an interesting little leaflet giving details about the history of the flag, how it should be displayed and 'dos and don'ts' under the heading of 'Flag Etiquette'.

Several years ago, this one was given to me by some very dear friends. It was a wonderful, quite overwhelming present and I love it but every year I always laugh at the irony of an American who has lived in the UK for more than three decades celebrating independence from the British!