The CHS is in the part of Washington DC known as Embassy Row, so it was fun to walk around and see all the different flags flying, especially as these are often state flags which can be different from the national flags one sees otherwise. The trouble with taking pictures of them is that the lighting isn’t always good, and you sometimes have to wait quite a while for the wind to blow the flag out. Some that I noticed:

• Right next door to the CHS is the Danish Embassy, which flies a swallow-tailed Dannebrog.

• The Polish Embassy flies a variant of the Polish flag with the national coat of arms on it. It also flies the European Union flag; the embassies of other EU countries also do this.

• Except the United Kingdom, of course! I do not believe that the absence of the EU flag over the British Embassy is a result of Brexit – the placement of the single pole suggests that they never flew the EU flag. The Union Flag is here defaced by a roundel featuring the Royal Arms, signifying the presence of an ambassador.

• The Plurinational State of Bolivia, I discover, has two flags: a traditional one consisting of a horizontal tricolor (here featuring the national coat of arms), and a newer one featuring a seven-color checkerboard design. This is known as the Wiphala and it is an emblem of the native Andeans. It has had equal status to the tricolor since 2009.

• The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has no diplomatic recognition, but that will not prevent its flag from appearing outside the Islamic Center of Washington.

• As European Union members do with the EU flag, member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, like the Philippines, fly the ASEAN flag. I did not know about this one.