If a week is a long time in politics, seven months are an eternity. That's how long it has been since Paddy Ashdown announced he would stand down as Liberal Democrat leader. Result day: endless phone calls with my excellent agent, James Gurling, keeping me posted on the latest developments at the count hosted by the Electoral Reform Society. A long but also invigorating and unifying campaign, which has been a tribute to the party's processes and members, left me a very happy candidate indeed.
In the media scrum following the declaration of the result, Kennedy dominated: Kennedy senior, that is - my father, Ian. Only the journalists' failure to find a fiddle prevented him from demonstrating his well-known musical talents on the spot. I hate to think what tales of my childhood he told. One to watch, perhaps.
Day one as leader. Excellent coverage in the press, with particular interest in my vibrant election team - especially the many female members, nicknamed "Charlie's Angels". Campaigning in Lambeth, along with Laura Brodie, my campaign press officer, we visit a part of the borough where deprivation and crime are rife. People genuinely live in fear for their safety from day to day. It is clear from the residents whom I meet that closed-circuit television is a popular option for rebuilding local confidence - especially to encourage the elderly out of their homes. In the leadership campaign, I said that social justice would be a high priority, and there will be many more such visits.
One tricky moment provokes press comment. I am offered tea in Gloria Campbell's living room. Tea ranks with mushrooms as one of my least favourite tastes, and I take water instead. Let me put this on record now: I will do much for my party but I draw the line at drinking tea.
I bump into John Prescott on the same day, outside the House of Commons. He is minding the fort for Tony. The Press Association snaps the impromptu get-together. In the next day's press, our views are used to illustrate differences of opinion between our parties over long-term constitutional changes.
Given the differences between myself and John (though not, I suspect, his boss), it's a good job that I hadn't bumped into Peter Mandelson accidentally and been snapped by photographers. Imagine the headline: "Kennedy meets Mandy in torrid axe-Prescott snub fiasco".
Party leaders are seldom asked to endorse clothes or cologne or to launch World Cup bids. We have a long way to go before we have quite the appeal of David Ginola, Michael Owen or Des Lynam. But we are on call to write forewords for an incredible range of political publications. For my first foreword as leader I was delighted to be asked by the former Lib Dem policy director, Duncan Brack, to pen a few words for the Liberal Democrat History Group's Dictionary of Liberal Quotations. My own favourite in the collection (due out later this year) is from Aeschylus:
"Some men see things as they are and ask themselves: 'Why?' I dream of things that never have been and ask myself: 'Why not?' "
I first became aware of this quotation when it was used by my American namesake Robert F Kennedy. It sums up how I would like everyone to see politics and it speaks of a "can-do" attitude that I would like to see throughout Britain.
One close escape during the leadership election was a threatened trip to see QPR play Tottenham in a pre-season friendly, with two colleagues from my campaign team: the director of the Centre for Reform, Richard Grayson (QPR), and the environmental researcher Julian Brazil (Tottenham). Given the reputation of pre-season games for grinding to a halt in the middle of the second half, I was pleased that a pressing constituency matter came up on the same evening. I have now been assured that, given the two teams' respective league positions (and bank balances), it may be some time before they meet again, and I am called upon to keep the peace between Richard and Julian.
An event planned even further back than the leadership election: the solar eclipse. Blessed with access to a roof in my London pied-a-terre, I take it in with neighbours. The slight cloud cover enhanced rather than dimmed my view, making it just about safe to view without sunglasses. After the week's electoral excitement, it is a humbling thought that this event will recur long after we are dust.
It's been a long but thoroughly rewarding 12 months. I still have to pinch myself to believe it's all true. I reflected on this with my old constituency friend John Farquhar Munro just a few days ago. We agreed that if either of us had been told, when I was elected to parliament in 1983, that in 1999 I would be leading a parliamentary party of 46 MPs and he would be a member of something called the Scottish Parliament, we would have been reassured that the long, hard years of the 1980s were all worthwhile. After an excellent year, thoughts now turn to a fortnight's holiday. I somehow feel that when I get back my life will never be quite the same again - as long as journalists remain as interested in the new Lib Dem leader as they are in the old Lib Dem policy on drugs.
