The doom spiral has been interrupted. Could it be that, by the spring, things will actually be better than they are now?

After five years of wanting to move, about two years of having to move and eight months of really urgently needing to move, the kids being so large and teen now that we could all smell each other across two floors of our titchy house, we finally moved. The sheer number of small, troublesome questions this prompted – have we traumatised the rabbit? Will the dog definitely die if he runs on to the A3, and will the resulting pile-up be legally my fault? What’s at the bottom of this pan we packed, oh God no, it’s curdled milk, who moves house without washing up first? Me, that’s who – completely clouded my vision. It was days before I realised something good had happened.

The US elections unfolded at the same time, following the same pattern. Lots of facts, and counting, and more facts, and revised counting, and nebulous fretting, until finally, wait … this is actually good. Something good has happened. This would have been a really fortuitous day to buy a lottery ticket, I thought on Saturday evening; with so much improbable good fortune, the chances of me winning a million quid are probably pretty high. I didn’t follow that up because I was too busy drinking and whatnot. Then two days later, a vaccine.