Day 23 - UK to leave the EU!

Waking up to a New Europe

I woke up early in Eysines, in the north west of Bordeaux to the shocking news that the BBC were forecasting the the European Union referendum was going to vote to leave the EU.

How very depressing and worrying for the future of Europe.

I am depressed that so many - but let's not forget, it's barely a majority at less than 51.9% - British people have such a different view about Europe than me. I must admit that being here in France, seeing so many stupid English fans behaving badly and disrespectfully, I am not all that surprised. There is a huge overlap between the arguments of the "Brexit" campaigners and the xenophobic jingoistism of many English fans. 

I'm sat here listening to the live feed from the BBC. I hear the happy "Leave" campaigners talking about an "exciting" future in which the UK has won control of its own affairs back again. They talk about "independence" as if the EU was some kind of empire like the old Soviet block. I'm shaking my head with disbelief. Britain have their own currency and they are members of NATO. 

What effect is this going to have on the economy in the UK? As I woke up, the pound had already lost about 9% of its value - lowest since 1985. 

I think it's a shameful day and could be the trigger of a set of events that may be terrible. I have always seen myself as culturally British - despite my Lithuanian/Romanian heritage - but very much in a European context. I am proud to have links with Eastern Europe and have always been fascinated by European diversity and love to revel in it. Unfortunately, enough British people seem to be so ignorant that they are fearful of these people and want to pull up the draw bridge and isolate themselves. 

For the first time in my life I am actually questioning whether I feel British. I am wondering if I can actually put my England shirt on when they play Iceland in Nice next Monday.

Depressing indeed.

Last hours in Bordeaux

Having spent the morning Facebooking and learning the grim news, I packed and drove to Bordeaux again to meet Darry and hand him the keys.

We said not "Goodbye" but, as the French have it... "Au Reviour!"

Where I heard the sad news

I had a lovely lunch in "Le Petit Mignon" before setting off south to Spain.

L'art de Darry

Darry had told me about some of the art work he had done near Bayonne, in the French Basque country so I popped in to see it on the way. It was amazing to see the German beach bunkers and nice to see the sea for the first time in France. 

A rain storm summed up my Euro mood as I drove into Spain. There was a massive queue of lorries at the border and I wondered if there had already been some repercussions of the English working class' daft decision to stick two fingers up at Brussels. Apparently not.

Queuing to get into Spain. And this is without borders.

For me, of course, it was a seamless smooth transition. One minute the signs are in French, the next they are in Spanish. The last peage in France you pay in euros, the first in Spain, you pay in Euros. Easy. Why oh why were the British so backward that they couldn't even accept the Euro as a currency? In future there'll be no open borders like I experienced here either.

Once into Spain I realised that my French SIM no longer worked so, to find the hotel I had to park the car close to where I thought it was and find a cafe with WiFi. 

They spoke Basque in there and were pleased that I made the effort to try to say thank you in their language, at least.... "eskerrik asko!"

A couple in the cafe heard my English accent and started chatting.

"You heard? We're out!"

"Yes. Terrible, isn't it?"

"Well... we voted out"

We stayed polite but I couldn't hide my disagreement and disappointment. It's such a decisive issue. Why couldn't Cameron just leave this alone?

Anyway, have got the Google map updated and my GPS locked into it it was easy peasy to find my Booking.com hotel. How brilliant is that technology? Life changing... and we never voted for that either. It's just the world moving on, for the better.

Great news once in the hotel, their car parking is the same as the one I had randomly chosen, so no need to move the car! 

Once I'd had a shower and got changed, I set off to explore the beautiful city of San Sebastian for the first time.

I must say I love doing this. New city. Time to walk around. Fantastic. I walked around Bahia de La Concha and through some streets in the old town before sitting down to a lovely fish soup and two red mullets. Lovely.

Then to bed. 

Football resumes tomorrow. Three round of 16 games to watch whilst relaxing in a beautiful city, then a massive hectic two days to get to Nice.

Aljice

Eysines, Bordeaux