Jack Straw's speech is very boring. Although I don't agree with heckling, I can see why they're doing it. I would be. Either that, or snoring.

Gordon hasn't mentioned the word "prudent" once. Perhaps he's preparing for the PM's job, when he can hand Prudence over to someone else. I wonder if she minds.

Gordon Brown's been re-elected. I'm glad. Anyone who can get economics to work is worthy of credit.

John Prescott has been re-elected without hitting anyone. Shucks. There's nothing like a good fight for entertainment on a Friday morning.

The beeb now have Peter Snow with a CGI Downing Street. If the degree of real-life-ness* is an indicator of electoral success, tomorrow's government is going to be run by Charles Kennedy and the policeman. Blair and Howard both look slightly fake. Is it a case of art mirroring life?

* I know this isn't the real word, but I'm blowed if I can remember it. Maybe the word is 'realism'. Dunno.

Beeb man: "And there's George Galloway from the Respect party, er, being respected".

Cutting edge journalism at its best. It kind of makes me glad that I don't pay TV licence.

Conservatives have just got their first MP of the night. She's only 35. Blimey. I wonder if I'll be achieveing such things when I'm her age. On the other hand, I suspect not. I'd rather have a vegetable patch and some chickens.

They're back to the 'MPs round the table' discussion gubbins, but the lib dem bird has flown the nest. Shame, coz she was good at stirring up trouble. Mind you, Boris is still looking casually rumpled: he has such style.

Labour have just won their eigth seat, although the Lib Dems are swinging up all over the shop - 6% swing, 9% swing... more swings that your average playing park.

Ah, vindication - the main beeb man says, "Ah well, Peter Snow's always wildly excited". That is the only thing that Kenneth Clark has said which Beeb man has agreed with. What joy it must be to be a politician, to be sitting prey for sarcastic journos.

Now another journo has just described Ken Clark as "very good value for money". I have to agree, but with the caveat that you wouldn't get many of him to the pound.

Peter Snow has a big swing-o-meter. And a slightly breahtless, very excitable voice, as if it's all fightfully exciting, and he's got the hand movements to go with it too. Fascinating. Perhaps I should adopt some of his moves in the classrooms. Or at least in the nightclub.

Ooooh - arguement going on about postal voting. The man from the beeb is pointing the finger at the labour man, the lib dem bird is now having a go at him(there were questions in the House: she's got the bloody thing in her handbag, if you need proof the lib dems didn't want it) and it's nearly reached blows. Hurrah! This is what politics should be about. The beeb man is getting quite frustrated at the labour man's total refusal to admit blame. Am v. amused.

Boris Johnson has very cool hair. Shame he sounds like a blundering buffoon, albeit a very amiable one. So long as he's not a baboon and whips his red arse out.

Houghton and Washington - pronounced by the Beeb as How-ton, although as eny fule know, 'tis Hor-ton - also is labour too. More swings to the Lib Dems though. Why do the BNP candidates always look like complete thugs? Perhaps there's a correlation between appearance and policies? Who am I to comment?

The maccams* do it again - Sunderland North are second to declare. What makes them so fast? Do their vote counters have speedy fingers? Are they just very nimble? Do they employ far more vote counters than other consituencies? A puzzle indeed.

* I'm not exactly sure whether it's maccams or maccems. I'm sure someone will tell me if they're particularly bothered about it.

Didn't quite manage to get to bed before the election results started coming in, so I seem to be resigned to staying awake until even matchsticks fail to keep my eyelids open. To help me, I have a pot of tea, some hamster-smack to keep Fatso quiet, and a broadband connection. I might as well make use of my bandwidth to blog while electioneering: who says that tired women can't multi-task?!

Sunderland South got their result in first: no surprise there. That happened more than 30 minutes ago, so the commentators are trying hard to spin out this little tidbit, because every other consistuency is still counting and recounting and arguing over spoilt ballots. As a woman who once had to study psephology (I think that's how you spell it), it's interesting to note that some areas have had a turnout of 65 - 70%, which is heartening to know, provided they're not all faked postal votes. It all means that the couting's going to take much longer than usual, so the poor commentators are going to have to whitter on about bobbins for a wee while longer.

This is turning into a stream of semi-consciousness post, so I'll stop for the moment and drink more tea. Rock and roll.

My dyslexia course tutor has just been to observe another lesson: that's two in one week! She was impressed (but of course) and doesn't think that she'll need to come back and observe any more lessons. I'm not sure if that's because I'm unquestionably brilliant or because it's a loooonnng way for her to come. Suspect it's the latter, somehow!

I have yet to vote in the election, but will be mooching down the road in the next hour to put my X in the appropriate boxes. It's quite a nice evening for a stroll. I'm not sure I've got the stamina to stay awake to hear the results come in though: it's D of E expedition this weekend and I need to conserve my energy!

In preparation for D of E, and because I had lots of tidying to avoid before this evening's dys lesson, I bimbled off to the bustling metropolis to buy maps, compasses and other things walking-related. I'm not sure my flexible friend knows what hit it.

Talking of not knowing what's hit it, my braincell's about to die, so I'd best be off. I certainly don't want my brain exploding over my laptop.

And another thing. This weekend I head off on expedition with my wee D of E silver group. (It's not the group that's wee, or even their physical stature, but they're just generally lovely. They even profressed to like writing route cards. Weird kids) I have to go shopping tomorrow in preparation... and not just normal shopping but KIT shopping!! I get to rummage through the supplies of Burton's finest camping shops to my heart's content. I suspect that rummage-ability will be slightly limited, given the range of shops available, but it'll be nice to be away from the marking for a bit.

On Friday, the external assessor lady is checking out my dyslexia course. We've all had to hand in all of our assignments, assessments, lesson plans and resources. Today I got an email saying that the assessor lady has picked me as the victim she would like to talk to. I can hardly say no, but she's just going to think that I'm a jibbering loon. No change from normal, I suppose!

Election Schlection. This amused me. Bwa-ha-ha! (via A Beautiful Revolution)

The sun is shining, the temperature is soaring, and the whole world is on holiday, except for us. They haven't invented bank holidays here in the village. Saturday and Sunday were spent in Sunny Manchester, playing non-stop cricket, drinking mighty fine port and eating more food than you could shake a medium-sized log at. The DOGs were good company, as ever, and it was a bit of a wrench having to come home yesterday evening. I finally got the smell of wood-smoke washed out of my hair, and today has been fairly nondescript. At least I'm on holiday for next bank holiday!