since we’re 15 to 18 hours ahead of most of the us (i guess we have to acknowledge alaska and hawaii given their role in the current election), the results of the elections started flowing in at 1 in the afternoon of the 5th for us here in nz. knowing i wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything else i took the afternoon off and the jboss and me headed into town to watch the returns at a bar that was covering the event.
the us embassy was also hosting an event at the civic center, but given the current ambassador is a bush appointee i’m confident that the crowd at the bar was more aligned with my desired outcome, so that decision was easy.
given the massive coverage of the us elections for months now in the nz media i expected there to be significant interest, but i was startled at the size of the crowd, the balloons, red-white-and-blue bunting, and all the obama signs. both floors of the bar were full of folks glued to cnn election coverage on the tvs. wild cheering as the results of each state were announced.
i think all americans should experience a us election from overseas to appreciate it’s impact on the world.
quite an emotional day – but the defining moment was a kiwi coming up to me and saying “congratulations – and thank you”
wellington was nice enough to put on a fireworks display that night to celebrate the election of new president.
well – that and guy fawkes day.
it got very cold in the evening, but given the excitement of the day the jboss and me wanted to stay for the festivities. not to complain, but the quality seemed quite dodgy. a lot of lopsided or odd shaped displays. next day the paper had the story:
“Two weeks ago, organisers were faced with a fizzer when they discovered that a cargo of fireworks from China was not going to arrive in time.
The council’s events manager, John Dawson, said organisers faced a late scramble to get fireworks when, for reasons still unknown, the original shipment was held up.
“Fortunately we were able to get a lot from an Auckland fireworks company which had stock left over.”
given the rivalry between auckland and wellington i’m guessing we got the rejects that some discount / shady fireworks dealer had wonder how he was ever going to unload.
“uh – sure. you got 100,000 people planning on showing up for fireworks tomorrow and you’re shipment is late. i think i can help you out…”