Going Underground on the Fourth

Since today marks the anniversary of the day the Colonies formally split from the British Empire, I figured it would be appropriate to give a little attention to jolly ol' England.

Going off on a tangent for a second, I want to know when the States started allowing dual/triple/multiple citizenships. According to what I remember, you had to renounce your allegiance and affiliation to all other countries when you became a citizen and dual citizenship was not allowed - you had to give up your citizenship to the prior country. I've always wished that I could have maintained my British citizenship - yes, I used to be a loyal subject of Her Royal Highness - but I was told that wasn't possible. Nowadays, I hear that multiple citizenships abound, so something must have changed since I was naturalized. There's no particular reason or benefit for my having wanted to also keep my British citizenship - I suppose it's just that Anglophile in me. Anyway, back on topic.

I found the London Underground Tube Diary blog through a news story a while ago. Someone who rode the Tube (the subway system in London is formally called the Underground, but it's often casually and affectionately referred to as the Tube) quite often was just posting observations from her travels, and the website apparently blossomed. It's a look into some of the daily happenings in, around and about the Underground. The only time I was in London years ago, I absolutely loved the Underground. It was very comfortable and easy to figure out, and it only took me one ride to get it all figured out. I've not been on that many subway systems, but the Underground is definitely my favorite, especially since I used it to travel around London, which I loved. However, you can get a decidedly different take on travel on the Underground by reading "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman - excellent, excellent book, by the way. And I'll admit that when I would look at the Underground map and see the spot of the Fenchurch Street Station, I would giggle to myself.

I hope to make it back to London someday, but in the meantime, I can at least keep up with the Underground.


And just because I like this sort of thing, here's Google's appropriately-themed logo for today.




May you have a happy, safe and fun Fourth.