USA

I just got back from the US, visiting my ancient step grandmother, who is quite mad but amusing. She is the kind of person who says to people what you want to say, but haven't got the nerve. She can get away with it, because she is so loaded that everyone is out for her money, so they will take her rudeness. I find her funny, though would not like to be the butt of her unkind, if sometimes truthful, remarks.

Though not a political animal, I couldn't help getting swept up in the excitement of the election. Everyone was talking about it, from the black taxi driver: 'That Sarah Palin, problem with her is she's plain ignorant. Just got her passport last month, don't even know where anywhere in the world is'; to a party at a posh Italian restaurant after the result, who were doing a post election dissection. It got very heated. None of your British apathy here.

The prospect of anyone other than Obama winning was so depressing, it was almost unthinkable. But given the vagaries of the US system, which I have had explained to me so many times yet never understand, it was a worry up until the last minute. My mum and I skulked around, unable to actually watch the results coming in until we were almost certain what would happen.

I have to admit that McCain was extremely gracious in defeat; I guess he had accepted the inevitable some days earlier, despite the dirty tricks some Republicans seemed to be playing, such as advertising on the internet that Republicans were to vote on the Tuesday and Democrats on the Wednesday. It's sad to think some people might believe this. What is true, is that in three states, you have to have a driving license to be eligible to vote! I wonder who that excludes? Not your average Republican supporter. Funny that. The land of the free??

The amazing thing is that a black man is now the US president, in a country where race is still, undoubtedly, a thorny issue.

Ironically, I just happened to be reading a book called 'Mudbound' by Hillary Jordan. A truly grim book, but gripping in its horrendousness, and very convincingly written. It is set in the deep, rural south at the end of World War 2. Two soldiers, one black, one white, are returning to their farms (the black is the son of a sharecropper, so not the actual owner of his land). Both soldiers have seen a life beyond the bigotry and racism of their native land, which they find unchanged upon their return. The levelling effect of war had obviously not permeated to their home towns.

The US has come a long way since then. Let's hope Obama can live up to the extremely high, some might say unrealistic, expectations of the people he will serve, as well as the entire world, which seems to be pinning their hopes on him too.

For the first time in my life, I felt proud to be an American. I am not quite ready to wave a flag or sing 'God Bless America', but I can concede, though it pains me to express it in this way - 'Good job Obama'. I might even throw in a high five.