Today is the coincidence of a general election here in the UK with Independence Day in the US. And by way of a further coincidence, the US Presidential election will be held on Guy Fawkes night November 5, this autumn.

No photos for this entry. I've not been able to find an interesting picture relating to the election around where I live. There are few-to-no posters supporting any of the parties anywhere I've been: most people are so antipathetic to all the parties they are not showing support for any of them. As usual, no-one has knocked on our door to canvas us, but the number of leaflets coming through the door has been higher than usual (...go straight to the recycle bin, do not pass Go...).

One election note from my recent trip to Skomer Island. We all seemed to have an informal pact not to talk about the upcoming election. One of our group commented "And this is where we get to choose who ruins the country next." There was general agreement, and that was the end of the discussion. That is just how it feels overall. All the polls (and, good grief, there has been an avalanche of polls over the last 6 weeks) point to the current party of government being decisively ejected, with the electorate's boot firmly on the back of their pants. But no-one I know has any confidence that the next lot will be more competent at raising living standards, or even getting the broken things to work again, than the last lot.

On another July 4th subject, 40 years ago today (OMG!!), I went down to Washington DC with my then girlfriend (who I was lucky enough to marry the following year) and some colleagues from work in Baltimore to sit out on the Mall and enjoy the festivities.

That day, the Beach Boys played a gig to a packed, huge crowd on the Mall in front of the Reagan White House. (Previously, Reagan's interior secretary had tried to ban the Beach Boys on the grounds they were "unwholesome" and would attract the "wrong elements". He was quickly forced into a U-turn; Reagan himself said he had shot himself in the foot, and gave him a plaster cast of a shot foot.)

We saw Ringo Starr come up on stage with the Beach Boys to play drums on "Back in the USSR", which simply cracked us all up. There's a video of it on YouTube. (And a further amusing point is the Ringo had walked out on the Beatles when they were recording this track, and hadn’t played drums on it: Paul played the drums on the base track.)

I remember taking my OM-2 along, and I'm sure I shot a roll of slides. But can I find them? No. After 40 years some things go missing, but it is a shame anyhow. And that is another reason there is no picture with this entry.

Normal service will (I hope!) resume with the next entry.