What do you remember about what you were doing at previous election times?

[sethstarkaddersmum]

I remember being glad Thatcher got in cos she was a woman.
I remember that election Kinnock lost that we expected him to win - soooo depressing.
And 1997 I fell down the stairs after coming back from voting and knocked myself out and spent the day at A&E . But oh the euphoria
Then when Blair was re-elected the first time I cut my finger with the breadknife the next morning and it bled all over the photo of him and Cherie in the Guardian. Symbolic, in retrospect.
Can't remember the last one, must have been pregnant.

2005 - watched it on sat TV in middle of Bay of Biscay on Portsmouth to Bilbao ferry

1974 - Remember going to polling station aged 6 with parents...twice in one year!

1979 - Primary teacher v pleased a woman in charge at last...

1983 - Aged 14, depressed at result

1987 - first time Labour voter, depressed again at Thatcher's re-election...

1992 - Couldn't believe it...

1997 - doing uni exams for post grad qual and watched Blair driving to Palace etc, instead of revising...felt elated.

2001 and 2005, just relieved Tories didn't regain power.

2009 feeling at Cameron getting majority...and a bit OMG at thought of a hung result...

1979: I was allowed to watch Telly In The Morning - only ever allowed on election mornings in our house (to be fair, it only EXISTED on election mornings until I was about 13). I remember David Dimbleby drinking a blue cocktail on telly at something like 7am, and Mum explaining that it was a good thing a woman was prime minister.

1983: Different world. My dad had started his own business and was spiralling towards bankruptcy. John Cole on the telly saying 'We keep hearing on the doorsteps "You've got to hand it to her". Feeling patriotic due to all the union jacks on the news every night.

1987: first vote and I don't remember a thing...
1992: David Amess grinning like a Cheshire cat from Basildon.
1997: thought we'd be the first to vote at 7.01am or something but far from it.

I remember being annoyed when the February 1974 election was called that I'd missed being able to vote by 6 months - that one resulted in a minority Labour government and a second election in October, which I was able to vote in. Coincidentally, DS was also six months short of his 18th birthday at the 2005 election, so this is his first general election, as well as DD's.

I also remember at the 1997 election, the most important thing to me that day was my first scan with DS, rather than the election.

In 1997 I was studying in Denmark and when I saw the Sea of Red on the Danish news in the morning, I went running out of my flat on campus looking for the other Brits. We all started screaming as soon as we saw each other! Went completely radio rental! Jumping around, screaming and the like.

The Danes were at us, as they have referendums all the time and didn't really understand our sheer unadulterated joy and happiness.

Then we got proper drunk!

My last sentence should of course say 1987 election, in case you were wondering how DS could be voting at the age of 12!

1987 - I was 12 and on a school overnight trip and was the only one out of 16 pupils disappointed by the result.

1992 - At college, everyone was gutted and just spent the day sitting round very miserable

1997 - A glorious sunny day. I was working for a fairly small company and the MD was so thrilled with the result that she closed both offices at midday and let us all go home early.

I can't remember the last two that clearly.

can remember voting in 1997, i walked to the polling station from home in tears as had a row with a colleague that day at work. in 2001, went to a party at a friends house to celebrate labour getting in.

am a bit scared of the tories getting back in. i remember thatcher.

God, can't remember one since 1997. Still out of it I think. This one was an altogether more sober affair.