Dawn of a new day

I took this as I went to bed this morning at 4.30am, finally tearing myself away from the drama as the results of the General Election flooded in. By the time I was ready to think of sleep, I realised to my horror that (a) it was getting light and (b) there was a blackbird giving it laldy in my garden, just under the bedroom window. This was the very first time I'd sat up riveted with election results - made me think of my mother, alone in her parents' house, listening to the Attlee win at the end of the war. My father was still in the RAF and everyone else in the family voted Tory.

Sleep didn't come easily and I woke again at 7am. I've been half dead all day as a result. But I've also felt more satisfied with my country's vote than I can ever recall - even better than that sunny day in 1997 when we sat outside and drank champagne. And one of the best things about it, just for today, is to hear Scotland mentioned over and over again, in every news programme.

I was expecting to have to wait till early afternoon, as usual, to learn who was to be my next MP. How, pray, did Argyll and Bute manage to do the count so quickly this year?