A sporting life: part 3

Amongst the credit crunch and job worries, came the American election. I knew it was coming but didn’t bother to think what I’d be doing when it actually happened. The day before the election, a friend of mine asks if I want to pull an all-nighter to witness the historic event. I realized no matter which way the polls would go, it will be a momentous occasion – either America’s first black president will be in the white House or America’s first woman VP. I think the first would be a far better choice but whatever the results, it was a moment in history that I wanted to be a part of.

11 pm. November 4th. Election night. I’m in a warehouse in Stoke Newington in North London watching multi-screen projections of the election coverage. My friend’s boyfriend announces the invention of a game that involves drinking champagne for every swing state Obama claims and a shot of Whiskey for McCain, as if whiskey is the only thing Republicans drink. Having no whiskey we decide champagne would be enough, and settle in.

The atmosphere is electric. I make a “CANUCKS FOR OBAMA” T-shirt with a black Sharpie and a white shirt and wear it with pride as we count down the closing of polls across the states. Sometime after 4 we know he’s won. Obama has won. The room explodes as people jump up and down. We’re hugging and kissing and I’m so overcome that I cry in this room full of strangers. History was made in that moment and by just watching it, halfway across the world, we were part of it. For once our headlines matched those back home . For once it wasn’t tragedy that filled the front pages but stories of joy. Maybe it won’t last but at least, for one day, the world had hope.