The battle buses have been parked. The much-debated leaders' debates are over. The party posters are starting to fade. By tomorrow the election will be over. It's time to move on. So, instead of slipping into a prolonged period of post-election blues (or Blues, should the result go Cameron's way), why not consider all the things to look forward to in the coming weeks and months:
▶ The first asparagus are already breaking through the soil. And the strawberries are not far off.
▶ Don't you worry 'bout a thing – Stevie Wonder is booked to play Glastonbury.
▶ The World Cup in South Africa is only 35 days away – and not a metatarsal break to speak of in the England camp. (Jinx alert: there's still one round of Premiership games to go.)
▶ Our skies are beginning to fill with the darting dance of swallows as they return from their winter sojourn in Africa.
▶ Andy Murray will have another crack at winning his first major title at Wimbledon.
▶ There are only four episodes to go until Lost aficionados get all the answers they've been craving during the last six teasing years. Or possibly not.
▶ A summer of remakes and sequels at the cinema – Robin Hood, Sex and the City 2, Shrek Forever After, Toy Story 3, The A-Team, Hairspray 2.
▶ Next week David Mitchell (the Cloud Atlas author) publishes The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet. Other books to look forward to include Philip Roth's Nemesis and Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, his first novel since The Corrections.
▶ Excitement (and, in some quarters, relief) at the thought of the last-ever Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 11 June: can he out-celeb Parky, who had David Beckham, Billy Connolly, Judi Dench, David Attenborough, Michael Caine, Peter Kay, Dame Edna Everage, and, er, Jamie Cullum for his last show in 2007?
▶ Peggy Mitchell is set to leave EastEnders – and Kat Slater returns after a five-year absence.
▶ On 20 May, a remake of the Shake'n'Vac advert featuring Jedward will be released online. (Ed: That's enough things to "look forward to".)
