I’m sure that my followers, readers and visitors will be in no doubt by now about the fact that I was a staunch Remainer. Brexit was anathema to me. I was, and remain, opposed to the madness of leaving all our friends in Europe, by cutting ourselves adrift and sailing off in a rubber dinghy onto the high seas, in the vain hope that we shan’t meet with too many storms and drown while we’re at it. For, truth to tell, we don’t have an adequate supply of life jackets!
Many British people refuse to understand that we Brits are Europeans, inside or outside of the European Union. We are still Europeans regardless. Our country was once geologically and geographically part of the main continent of Europe. Further, just to give you an example, the Celts in Wales are said to have originated in Hallstatt in Austria. It’s near Salzburg.
However, for some inexplicable reason, many Brits are in denial of our European heritage. One gentleman I met whilst shopping prior to the Brexit referendum swore blind to me that we weren’t Europeans at all! The man to whom I refer is actually a very nice gentleman; but he is greatly mistaken on this matter. So, I asked him a few questions: “If we are not Europeans,” I asked, “then what are we?” I added: “Clearly, we are not Americans; we are not Africans; we are not Asians; so, what exactly are we?” Needless to say, he was unable to give me a sensible answer. Such is the level of denial in many quarters of the UK!
Since Brexit, our nation is in chaos. But why should we worry when we are led by BoJo? He and his band of merry men will surely fix it all! In the meantime, many of the shelves in the supermarkets are bare. I am now unable to procure many of my favourite items of food, such as my favourite French, unsalted butter. That’s completely gone missing from the shelves. Ditto, my favourite mineral water: Evian. Last weekend, when shopping, I noticed that not a single bottle of Evian water was for sale! Prior to Brexit, I could buy as many bottles as I wanted or needed. My favourite Spanish honey has disappeared off the shelves as well. This is to name but a few food items.
Moreover, I have had to give up buying many fresh vegetables. For starters, many of the shelves in the supermarkets are bare. Secondly, what is available perishes very quickly. To give you an example, I have always loved carrots, and I have always kept a plentiful supply of them at home. Recently, I have had to stop buying them, because for many weeks, I ended up throwing nearly all of them away: they would go black (mildew) even in my lovely, German fridge. And that’s in the salad-crisper!
The Brexiteer politicians try and tell us that these shortages are “teething problems”; they also try and tell us that the pandemic is to blame; and the “pingdemic," of course! (Too many people are being ‘pinged’ for self-isolation due to the Delta variant, apparently.) These may well be contributing to the shortages, but the real reason, as most people surely know, is Brexit itself! The politicians have gone and screwed up! But hey! We’ve got a blond bombshell at the helm now. What could possibly go wrong? And in any case, we now have blue passports again. Yippee! No more burgundy passports for the true Brit! As many Americans might say: What a deal already!
I’m hoping that my fellow countrymen will one day come to their senses and realise what they have lost by leaving the EU; but I am not holding my breath!
In the meantime, my idealistic side makes me dream of being given asylum by my French brothers and sisters in France. The Côte d’Azur looks awfully appealing from here. But I doubt that this would be possible. I don’t think that Emmanuel Macron would give serious consideration to granting asylum to a Brit, somehow. So I suppose I shall have to grin and bear it and shrug my shoulders and say, C’est la vie !
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© Mark Alexander
