For Ian, who has a need to know.

It's a week since the Federal Election, and the world hasn't ended.

Elections here are very much like a football grand final really, I think they employ the same marketing people as well.

They have about the same impact in the medium term as well if the truth be known. Never the less, People queue up all day at the"Australia Votes" venues wearing their team colours, then in the evening the match telecast begins, and there's a bit of cheering and some wailing and gnashing of teeth, the victors give a speech talking about how great their team played, the losers give a speech congratulating the victors, and talking about how well their team played, but without luck on the day, and the fans go off to the pub to either drown their sorrows, or revel in the victory.

The next day, the world is unchanged, except that there is less speculation on the outcome, and a bit of analysis of what could have been, and anyway the cricket season has begun in earnest, so there's plenty of other things to write about in the papers.

We were with a bunch of blue team supporters on the night of this grand final. The solitary red team voice was quite subdued, but not as subdued as the blue team people became when the results started coming in.

After a few hours the blues captain was taken out behind play, and the crowd became very subdued indeed.

When the vice captain from the red team started to get the scent of victory, one could even hear a few desperate mumbles from the crowd, even a gasp of horror as though he'd just made a head-high tackle.

The vice captain of the blue team gave the first speech, and he looked pretty fit, like a winger who hadn't seen much of the ball for the whole game. When the captain came on, he looked ok, but he was probably just going through the motions because he was still concussed. He reckoned it was his last game as captain.

The captain of the red team came on, and he was barely puffing. He told everyone that they intended to keep the trophy for a while, at least as long as the blue team had, and all the blue supporters got even more miserable, and went to bed, expecting the world to end by the morning.

The blue team reckon they'll have a bit of a break after their loss and they won't be doing too much till they get a new coach.

The red team, well they're off to the rule book to see if they can't put off a rematch for as long as possible.

While this was happening Aaron Baddely won the Australian Open, and Queensland didn't do too badly in the cricket, so the weekend wasn't a dead loss for everyone.

The sun, apparently unaware of the ramifications of the game, rose the next morning, and we went to the beach and bathed in it's warmth.

(That last bit was specially for Shelley and Julian)