A Yankee Going to London

Yankee Doodle went to London
just to ride the ponies.
Stuck a feather in his cap
and called it macaroni.

That seems such an odd song, doesn't it? Even with James Cagney singing it while twirling his cane and high-stepping across the stage. The song wasn't originally patriotic. It was actually sung to mock the ragtag mob of pre-revolutionary colonial soldiers who fought with the British in the French and Indian War. "Doodle" was a term for idiots, and "macaroni" was a term for a dandy young man of fashion. When the poor slobs stuck feathers in their hats, they thought were really something, but the British thought they were really something to be ridiculed. It wasn't until the Revolution that colonials turned it around to be something they could sing with honor, something they could use to thumb their nose up at the Red Coats. A raspberry, so to speak.

I won't be singing this song while visiting London. Or Paris. We'll leave Wednesday morning and fly to Paris. We'll spend a few days there visiting Daughter No. 1, roaming the city and pretending to be Canadian. Both Daughters 1 and 2 will help us out with the language.

On Monday, we'll take the Chunnel to London where we will stay for the entire week. We'll be leisurely about our walking pace and eating pace and our tourism pace. We'll see plays and drink wine and look at paintings and maybe even eat a little bubble and squeak. We'll meet Dive and Mum, and we'll take pictures as proof.

I'll see you all in a couple of weeks.

I'm a yankee doodle dandy.
Yankee doodle do or die.
A real life nephew of my Uncle Sam
Born on the 4th of July.
I've got a yankee doodle sweet heart.
She's my yankee doodle joy.
Yankee doodle went to London,
just to ride the ponies.
I am that yankee doodle boy.