Recovering from the Fourth

We’re still recovering from the 4th July.  The flags and decorations still need to be taken down, rubbish taken away and the tourists are slowly leaving.

It was wild! We’ve celebrated the Fourth on the peninsula before, but this time we were in a different area and speaking to locals, it’s just got bigger and bigger in recent years.

Our neighbours announced that the party was about to begin by kicking up the volume on their stereo at 10am and the noise, buzz and partying didn’t stop until midnight.  I was shocked at the shear volume of people who poured onto the peninsula and into our street.  They just kept coming and coming.  I would love to know the logistics of where everyone parked, it just seemed impossible that this many people could make it onto the peninsula without buses shipping them in.

The police were very much in evidence on every block but many were smiling and enjoying the spectacle of this vast amount of revelers.  People just wanted to have fun, I’m sure there were arrests but in general the celebrating was very good natured.

Our boys were delighted to find out that the vast majority of people partying on our street had drunk a number of beers and thought it was very funny to be sprayed with water from their water pistols.  The street had turned into a big street party with the parties all blending into one another so out came the scooters and they were whizzing up and down the street with their water pistols.

The people watching was out of this world.  Guys chatting up girls, girls vying for attention, it was insane. We even had a fight, but it only lasted a few minutes and resembled the fight between Hugh Grant and Colin Firth in Bridget Jones.  There was lots of slapping and waving hands in the air and jumping out of the way.  One of the guys left and it was all over within minutes with the guys being mocked for their pathetic ability to punch.

We cycled along the boardwalk during the afternoon with our bikes decorated in American flags.  The atmosphere was electric.  The houses all along the boardwalk were full of people and one house had even hired a band to play.

In the late afternoon we cycled over to party central – West Newport.  Patios, balconies and roof tops were bursting at the seams with people.  Alcohol isn’t allowed in the streets, so the parties had to be contained.  This meant the party goers were tightly packed in.  It was amazing, everyone determined to have a good time.

We did a final bike ride along the boardwalk in the evening around 10pm.  By this time, party goers were heading home, a final wishing of ‘Happy 4th’ by late night revelers and then to bed.  It was exhausting and although I’d enjoyed the day, I was glad for the noise to be over and the people to have departed.

The following morning lots of beer cans, plastic cups and paper napkins littered the street but the neighbours quickly pulled together and tidied up and the peninsula was quickly back to normal – I have to say, I was happy when the crowds had left and it was ours again.