by Tomorrow morning I’ll be flying down to Timaru to see my brother and his girlfriend. I spoke to him last night; he seemed happy but tired after a gruelling flight. It will be great to see him. We always get on pretty well even though our lives have drifted apart. It’ll be good to meet her too – by all accounts she’s a big improvement on the last one. We should get very nice weather down there. What a fantastic February it has been (and oh so many cicadas).
Britain will vote on whether to leave the EU on 23rd June, sooner than I expected. This has obvious implications for my plan to move to Romania, possibly in late September. If there’s a vote to leave, will my plan be scuppered? The EU wheels tend to move slowly, so I expect the leaving process to be a long, drawn-out one. But all those ghastly Romanian (and Bulgarian and Polish) immigrants are fuelling people’s desire to exit the EU, and I can imagine if the UK wants to close its borders to those people, Romania and the like will want to reciprocate. So far everything I’ve read about so-called Brexit is pure speculation.
The bookies’ odds point to a 31% chance of Britain leaving the EU. My spidey senses tell me the probability is somewhat higher: I’d say just under 50%. On the whole, British people just don’t feel European. Although EU is a clunky machine that has got too big and powerful for its own good, I think wanting to isolate yourself from the EU countries is silly. Being able to travel and live and work and study in 28 countries is awesome. Look at me: it’s given me the chance to go on a big life-changing adventure and all the excitement and optimism that goes with that. And some of that annoying red tape people go on about is actually helpful: workers’ rights are stronger, beaches are protected, you know what’s in your food and where it came from.
Elections and referendums are ripe for coinages of new words for supporters of people or causes, especially by people who don’t support them. Last year supporters of Jeremy Corbyn became (and are still) known as Corbynistas, a word with a Spanish suffix that evokes hard-left South American rulers. The latest one I’ve seen for the EU referendum is Remainian – quite clever when you think about it, and obviously coined by people who don’t want Britain to remain in the EU. The Remainians need to come up with something in response, and quickly.
I’m eligible to vote in the referendum because I was living in the UK, and on the roll, less than 15 years ago.
