England for Obama

The best way to describe my inauguration day is to direct you to my photos on Flickr – where you’ll see the crowds and sights that M and I saw as we walked down to the Willard Hotel for the New York State Society brunch; what it was like at the brunch itself – basically, imagine a diverse crowd of 1,500 people at the Ritz; and some shots from the Arizona State Society Ball in the evening, which I went to with new American buddies J and A (who, like my host K, volunteered for the Obama campaign).

Because we experienced the inauguration inside – it was, of course freezing outside and you had to get a pitch very early in the morning – and because I had to dash back to file my copy for Orange (as I was off to a ball that night and so unable to write it later), I wasn’t in the thick of the big crowd and parade.

BUT: being at the Willard was a real treat – it’s such a beautiful and historic hotel – and the place bustling with people and draped with flags. The inauguration being screened in several dining rooms, including the Grand Ballroom, where we watched it:

I wasn’t the only one to cry during his speech.

The ball was, erm, interesting in my foreign eyes – my American friends backing up my suspicion that it was exactly like a prom, only everyone was older. An ’80s school disco in tuxes, if you will. And while the venue was lovely (it was held at the Historical Society of Washington), I could have absolutely taken or left it, as an event. Still, I can tick that box now, eh? Inaugural ball cherry popped.

We did get chatting to a couple of very nice, young Washington peeps at the ball – including pollster K, who reminded us all so much of CJ Cregg that she was swiftly dubbed ‘Flamingo’ for the evening. When the ball finished, Flamingo took us onto a bar in Chinatown that she knew – where we proceeded to continue gassing and drinking more V/G&Ts in our posh frocks/tuxedos, and where someone asked me: “Who made your dress?!” To which there was only one answer: an exclusive designer called Coast.