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The Warzone
Fireworks were going off the whole length of the beach.As I mentioned in the previous blog, we recently had Sven visiting us for a few weeks, but we've also had my Aunty and Uncle, David and Leona here, so it's been a very busy house lately. They both timed their visits really well as they were here for the 4th of July. This is a pretty crazy day over here as the Yanks love nothing more than to celebrate their freedom, so the place turns into a massive street party followed by a warzone of fireworks after dark.
This year the Jacksonville Beach council were setting off fireworks down at the local pier which we can see from our balcony, so we decided that we should host the 4th of July party and Aussie it up a bit. We've inherited a heap of alcohol from other guys who have departed which needs to be finished before we go home so we had an 'open bar' which attracted quite a crowd. To make sure the beer would flow freely we also picked up a keg from one of the local shops. This combined with the $150 of fireworks Sven had bought set the stage for a very enjoyable evening.
The Balcony
The American, Floridian and apparently the 'British' Flag. We decided to Aussie the 4th of July up and insisted on calling it 'Happy America Day' which pissed the yanks off no end - much to our amusement. We even had a 'Happy Ammerica Day' flyer on our front door, complete with America mispelled to welcome all our guests (although of the thirty people, more than ten were Aussies!). We adorned the balcony with the American, Floridian and Australian flags, much to the disgust of many people. One guy riding passed even yelled 'Take down that British flag', so we threw fireworks and cheese slices at him - very amusing.
The street we live on turns into a giant street party with hundreds of people riding their bikes up and down the street just joining in all the parties which people were holding the whole length of the street - it really is something you have to see. I was BBQing up a storm and everyone was doing their best to make a dent in the drinks. All sorts of concoctions were flowing, Sangria, Hurricanes, Chocolate Martinis (which Fiona is now addicted to). It was soon night time and the firework display was pretty impressive, but we could
Biking
Riding your bike is huge on 4th of July. There are continually huge packs of people just cruising the street. barely contain Sven's excitement as it was time for him to launch his arsenal of fireworks. We headed down the beach and the place was an absolute warzone - there were fireworks going off everywhere. People were shooting them at one another and it was going crazy. Alcohol and fireworks such a great combination only slightly bettered by alcohol and guns.
Sven was like a kid in a candy store and put on a pretty good show for us all without blowing or burning any of his bits off which is a good thing. The partying continued, but by 3:30am I had to kick my wife and aunty who were the last two partiers into bed as they were carrying on so much it was keeping us awake. All in all thought it was a great day and we had a ball. It is a real pity that we won't be here for another 4th of July as they are such great fun!
I've included some other photos from Sven's trip here just for the hell of it as they are quite funny. Enjoy.
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