Have a great holiday, hope Will Smith gets to save us before all those Aliens blow us all up again - Oops, different Independence Day!



Seriously, have a great day!!!

We wish everyone over the pond there has a really brilliant day too

Thank you very much!

Personally, I hate the fireworks, though. One of my dogs is terrified of loud noises so we had to turn down barbecue invitations to stay with her! Pat has to work, naturally, but at least it's holiday pay.

When I was a medical technician, we used to hate July 5, because all of the fireworks injuries would show up in the office!

Thank you all too ....considering today was the day we were no longer were british citizens...



I agree with Sue, today is one of the most dangerous days of the year here. I feel like I am in the middle of a war zone, with our neighbors shooting off -professional- sized fireworks, around the corner over one of our retention ponds. That's what happens when you have fields behind your home.

When I worked for the group of Opthalmologists this day always found us busy with the many people who get hit in the eye with a firework. Many lost their eye because of it...but it still goes on yearly...same old- same old. Lesson never learned, and a new generation.

If you see this, Barack Obama Joins Hall of Presidents at Disney's Magic Kingdom....


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Happy 4th July

Happy July 4th to all our American members!!!!!

We had a very nice BBQ at the Embassy Thursday night - but no fireworks - I'll have to wait for the 14th of July for that

My pussims hate the firecrackers everyone sets off for Bastille day - it will be starting very soon. I like a real nice professional fireworks display - but the firecrackers drive me mad

Happy 4th July to all our friends across the rather large pond. I do hope all your kitties/dogs don't fret too much over the fireworks.

Thanks All!!! and Happy 4Th back at you. From The Furbrats and the Feathered Duo and us. --Gina

to all our American Members!

Hope you had a great day! xx

We are far away from the public display that the kids don't hear them thankfully but they enjoy watching the 4th of July spectacles on TV..with the sound down low...fireworks are illegal here in town but we hear the occasional firecracker go off sending Taz running for cover usually under the pc desk until Mike or I go and pick him up and comfort him..

ahh..so you get to enjoy two very important holidays almost side by side.

Carole, I always meant to ask...I know you still are a American citizen , but are you also a French one by your marriage to your husband?

And is there a law about how long you can keep your citizenship without living in the US for a given amount of time?

I think years ago there was one law about having to return after 7 years and live here for a year to keep it? Is that still true??
If you were to have children would they have dual citizenship?


I know, questions, questions, questions.... but how will I learn if I don't ask???

I don't know how all that American citizenship works, but Lou being Belgian lives here permanently with me. She can only lose her Belgian citizenship if she applies for British citizenship at the Embassy. She would have to prove that she can 'integrate into society here' by passing a language test (she speaks better English than most that live round here as I'm sure J and Sophie can confirm) or having a letter of approval from a Solicitor who states that she would not need any special treatment or care (my bro is a Solicitor and wrote her one the first year she came over) and the best yet.... that she pays £800 for the privilege of assuming Brit Citizenship! Of course if she were to pay that, she would then need to fork out another £150 for a passport as her Belgian ID would then be rendered useless. Amazing really, in a country that appears to let any other nationality of person move in and take over.

Needless to say she hasn't bothered applying, and won't be! Personally I find it pretty amazing that she can come over here to live, work here (end up with RSI from her job) get no compensation for that as we couldn't prove it and still be charged all that flippin money just to be able to say "I'm British, here is my passport to prove it"
Stuff that!! She's happy to stay as she is, she has freedom to return to her home country any time she likes, and would remain a Belgian as far as they are concerned for life.
My sis in law is American, must ask her if there are any special rules that she's had to comply with, although she's lived over here for years, started here as a nurse with the American Army and then moved into civilian nursing when her contract ended so it may be different for her.

Its funny Jo, how some things work and how it can become complex very quickly.

My mother was born in Canada, where her parents immigrated to from Sweden in the early 1900's.
SO...being born there she was a Canadian citizen..BUT did she also have Swedish citizenship from her parents automatically too?

Then she moved to the US with her family as a young girl and met and married my father, who was already a US born citizen. So she then became a naturalized
US citizen. (Not sure if she openly applied for citizenship or that she didn't need to being she married my father.)

So does that mean she had 3 nationalities????? Or did the other two drop when she married my father?

My grandmother, who lived all the rest of her life here, never gave up her Swedish
nationality, and never became a US citizen.

If my head doesn't explode with all this hard work....I think that made your Mum a Swedish Canadian American, in which case your daughter is a Swedish Canadian American Italian

Tired now, need a rest

seriously though, I think she would have needed to have been born in Sweden to be able to claim Swedish citizenship, I may well be wrong there though lol. My son was born in Germany but has Brit citizenship as both parents (me and him) were Brits serving over there but I believe he may have some rights to claim German citizenship.
Lou's stepdad is Dutch, she lost her biological father when she was a teeny baby so her younger sister was Dutch until she married a Belgian, then she was given a choice to either remain Dutch, or become a Belgian citizen through marriage

Isn't it all confusing? Who cares really lol, I certainly don't