The Yanks, The Swedes & The Scousers

Despite the temptation to spend my night glued to the BBC website and watch the votes come in I managed to get to sleep at a fairly respectable hour last night. Only because I have to stay awake over the next few days for my leaving parties. However my body clock seemed to be intent that I wouldn’t miss all the fun and woke me up at around 5am to see Obama’s speech.


It’s astounding how excited and interested we are in the UK. Understandable of course, this is not only a president of the USA, but the most powerful man in the world. It’s also history in the making, proving yet again that anything is possible. However I agree with Obama, he is not a black President, he is a President who is black. I am just pleased that he is a man that seems to have vision, yet is realistic in his goals. He believes in equality, yet appreciates people’s individuality. I hope that his leadership is as strong as I believe it can be, and I am excited about the possibilities over the next four years.

Even without the current crises it is of interest to us because of the effect American politics has on our little island. However the other reason is the capacity the Americans have to motivate and celebrate. It is infectious. I have followed this election more closely than any UK election. Yes some people stay up all night to watch our general election results rolling in, but you don’t see the scenes of people sat cheering in bars in central London, as was last night. Isn’t it time that we had a general election that inspired people to vote and to celebrate. That engage people in the process, rather than alienating those who feel they don’t ‘get it’. I hope our next general election can be as exciting for those of us in the UK as the American election has been!

As the Americans queued for hours to vote, I braved the land of the Swedes, Ikea. I needed to buy some of those cheap paper lampshades to replace the ones I removed the moment I moved in. Though I am a sucker for the Ikea concept, and prices, I find the experience very stressful. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and check out potential furniture options for my future home so that when I have to visit again it can be as quick and painless as possible. Despite having researched mattresses and narrowed it down to three, I still had what can only be described as a goldilocks moment when I tried them out! Thankfully the one that was ‘just right’ is the cheapest!!!


And what of the Scousers? Well they avoided a loss against Atletico taking them a step closer to the next stages of the Champions League. While the Americans dream of the next four years, I’m hoping that Liverpool have got their act together enough this season to get the Premiership title, and enjoy the European one too!