DATELINE: New York, New York

Hunter S Thompson was right about the campaign trail: it is a drug. It heightens your senses even while it drains your energy, and it leaves you exhausted and bereft in its absence, eyes darting and hands shaking. Iowa and New Hampshire were so intense that it’s taken us a few days to come down. Obviously the campaign continues (15 Jan – Michigan; 19 Jan – South Carolina), but in real cities like Boston and New York life proceeds pretty much as normal. But the afterglow remains: on the road we’ve started to hallucinate candidate lawn signs where there are none; in Boston we were standing in a lift and were sort of half-sure the businesswoman said “are you guys going to the Barack luncheon?”. We said “no”, and then looked at each other: she obviously hadn’t said ‘Barack’, but it really sounded like it. Just sitting on sofas and talking about politics with our friends Matt and Sara, but without taking notes has been a blessed relief. From here we go to Philly, DC, Baltimore, North Carolina, and then South Carolina in time for the hugely decisive Republican primary. By then I will be more than ready for another fix.