For reasons which will be obvious, I have spent time today thinking of Wilmington, Delaware where we spent two months in the summer of 1988 exchanging not only our house, but our car as well with Henry and Sue Moncure. Joe Biden had already been a Senator for fifteen years. What a relief it is to have a President who is representative of that aspect of America which I have always admired.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
I applied to intern for ‘Citizens for Biden – 1984’, the year Ronald Reagan was running (successfully, it turned out) for re-election. If successful I would have ended up working in Wilmington (named, via the Earl of Wilmington, after an East Sussex village near to Charleston) but ended up working for Jersey senator in Union, New Jersey, a blue-collar and somewhat rundown township in Hunterdon County.
Dear Nico, Yes, I saw that on twitter – it seems such a long time ago. Charles
Yes, half a lifetime. Though the idea that Biden has been in the Senate for a fifth of the life of the American republic was thought-provoking on longevity.
Yes, an astonishing statistic. He’s a year older than John Major. Charles