No crowds, no inaugural ball, welcome President Biden

Today is going to be a weird day in Washington. It will be a day of celebration but without much celebratioon. The inauguration ceremony will be sparsely attended, apart from the thousands of national guardsmen and police, the ordinary folk who troop up to honour their new president will be absent, and the inaugural ball in the White House, a grand event for all the great and good, will not take place becasue of Covid. In fact the day will end in anti-climax, especially for Joe and Jill Biden. What I love about inauguration day is the frantic removals ritual, with Trump baggage being taken away and Biden baggage being brought in. That includes furniture and curtains - and light bulbs if the Trump oots have done what repoortedy the Bill Clinton departees did which was to remove all light bulbs for the incoming president. Petty? Just a touch. It all has to be completed before the Bidens arrive at the White House after the inauguration ceremony. Trump is due to leave the White House in the next hour with at least one piece of luggage which he will have to give back, the briefcase with the nuclear codes. Quite a scary thought really, Trump arriving in Florida on Air Force One for the last time before Biden is inaugurated as 46th president at noon eastern standard time, so he keeps the so-called nuclear "football". Which means the military officer in charge of the briefcase will have to hightail it back to Washington by noon or soon after to make sure President Biden has the nuclear codes at his fingertips. Will there be a gap of an hour or two when neither Trump nor Biden will have access to the codes? OK, this is Dr Strangelove territory but the question has to be asked and answered. As I write this blog at 12.24 UK time - 7.24am Washington time - Donald Trump is still president for another four hours and 36 minutes.