I am sitting here in front of the television, waiting for the election results to come in.
It is the first time I have ever done this without R by my side. His absence was huge as I walked into the polling station without him, and for the first time ever in my life I have voted without conviction that I was doing the right thing. There was no trawling through the election leaflets. No animated weekend discussions over the kitchen table, no arguing the merits of the parties. No enjoyment of the whole political process.
I have no sense of anticipation or enthusiasm. I can't even get excited about the fancy new swingometer graphics. There is just a sense of dread at the possibility of a hung parliament. I am old enough to remember the last one and the chaos it caused in the country. I cannot understand the delight with which people are greeting the idea. The days of haggling over every decision, of shipping in sick MPs in ambulances to vote, of strikes, uncertainty, economic gloom seem just around the corner. Why this should be a good thing I really don't understand.
So far only a handful of constituencies have returned their verdict. For the first time in my adult life I think I shall go to bed and simply wake up to hear the result, rather than staying up for the blow-by-blow accounts. I just hope it looks better in the morning.
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We've had a minority government in Canada for years now. Uncertainty and economic turmoil were predicted, but really all it has done is keep the Conservatives in check so they can't implement some of their more drastic plans without the other parties holding a non-confidence vote to call another election. The end result has been better behaved politicians than usual who have to turn up and do their jobs for a change. Having said that, the political environment is very different here. Canadians hate political drama and excitement; I found that very different in the UK.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, elections are stressful. I always take the go to bed and brace myself for the results in the morning approach.
No better this morning J.
ReplyDelete@Grandmaibb: No indeed. I very am tempted to go back to bed.
ReplyDelete@Fireweedmeadow: Thank you for explaining the situation in Canada. I really hope it does turn out the same way here, although I fear what will actually happen is that we will limp on with a coalition for a while and have to have another election a year or so down the line. Neither of the two likely government scenarios fills me with a great deal of hope.
It's pretty amazing. Here in Aust we are just kind of looking and wondering...
ReplyDelete@Rose: That's pretty much what we are doing here too. It's out of the electorate's hands now - all down to the political horse-trading.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm listening to the cricket instead and trying to ignore it all!