For the most part, yesterday's inauguration went off without a hitch. A lot of things could have gone very differently, but fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your opinion) did not. Here are five of them:

- Chief Justice Roberts COULD HAVE delivered the 35 words of the oath of office in the order that they are written in the frigging constitution. But in a surprise turn of events, he chose to go another way. Roberts clearly never misses an opportunity to demonstrate that he reads the constitution in a whole different way than most Americans.

- When Bush's helicopter veered back around toward Washington, it COULD HAVE opened fire and strafed the gathered crowd as they chanted "Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye." Thankfully, the former president ordered his gunner to stand down at the last moment. Bush can be accused of a lot of things, but no one's ever going to accuse him of ruining a good party.

- Sasha Obama didn't tell anybody off. The youngest first daughter is brimming over with sass, and she COULD HAVE spent the day adorably demanding that people talk to her tiny hand or shaking her hips defiantly at every photo op, but she chose to reign it in. Incidentally, Secret Service have already changed her code name to "The Little Handful."

- "Red Man" COULD HAVE been rhymed with "dead lamb." Or "fed ham." Or "Sister Sledge's Master Plan." Instead it was rhymed with "get ahead, man" in Reverend Dr Joseph E Lowery's benediction. We're fine with it the way it was, and we would have been fine with it if he had continued to rhyme stuff with other stuff for another hour or two. He's a fun poet! (Elizabeth Alexander take note.)

- Pastor Rick Warren COULD HAVE asked God to give gays 30 minutes to try and "heal themselves" before striking them down with a storm of lightning bolts. Instead he decided to go inclusive. And after the line "Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans" he COULD HAVE added "even the turd burglars." But he didn't. It was enough for him to know that everyone in the crowd assumed he was thinking it.