Back to normal

I spent the last four days glued to CNN. I am an election junkie. Always have been. The joy of Clement Attlee in 1945.

Wait, Nigel. Weren't you just a year old at the time?

Ah yes, maybe it was Attlee in 1950, with a wafer thin majority.

When you were six.

A very precocious six.

(and so on...)

Anyway, four late nights (why can't the Americans use GMT?). Immersed in the minutiae of mail-in ballots, absentee voting, the effects of Venezuelan immigrants in Florida and a general geography lesson on American states (not forgetting that Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth not a state) and counties. Directed by the superbly professional CNN anchors, reporters and analysts - although with little pretence of balance in their anti-Trump stance.

It was gripping, waiting for the latest updates from Georgia: Trump's early lead (from on the day voting) shrinking as the mail-in ballots are counted later and eventually disappearing as Biden narrowly overtakes it. It was like watching the final day singles in the Ryder Cup - the to and fro as one side then the other is ahead and the tension when the camera zooms to a reporter in Clark County with the latest batch of votes in Nevada, or to the 17th green as Rory McIlroy lines up a vital putt.

Now I'm back to normal life. CNN will have to wait four years, perhaps for an all-female presidential contest between Kamala Harris and Ivanka Trump (you heard it here first). Back to football, computer gaming, catch ups with the latest episodes of The Mandalorian. The Starry Night jigsaw. And blogging.

Somehow British elections seem mundane. Certainly less drawn out: I can usually get to bed by 6am at the latest, confident of knowing the broad outcome, and that's it. No four day torture, no legal challenges, no town by town numbers. Guys, we need to spice it up!

I'm scouring the world for the next election. There's a Presidential election in Burkino Faso on 22 November. Do they have CNN in Burkino Faso? Ghana 7 December. Indonesian local elections 9 December. Nigeria 27 December (seriously? no Christmas?).

I'm getting the popcorn in. And doing my 30 seconds of Calm.