I don’t agree / Je ne suis pas d’accord – 25 June 2016

Well yesterday morning I woke to a political decision that made me cry (the first and hopefully only political decision that I have this reaction to). The UK have voted to leave the EU. So what does this mean for me? Well the big problem is, we don’t know. I am so disappointed in this decision, not only because it wasn’t how I voted, but because it has split the UK. The vote had a high turnout (72% – very high for the British who do not have compulsory voting) with the result split almost 50/50. Along with that, Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU while Wales and England voted out. So all in all, the next few years of my life in France are an unknown quantity.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131215

I’ve even signed the above petition calling for a re-vote due to the vote being so close, but I will admit I do wish that the UK had compulsory voting so that everyone had to vote on this as it does affect all UK citizens.

Pat and I are looking at how we can stay if this becomes an option. After we have been here 5 years we can apply for citizenship or to be permanently resident. This is something we will be seriously considering. My French will have to improve however to be able to do this. So at the moment I am still sad at the outcome but the anger is coming. If we can’t stay, I will NOT return to England, I just couldn’t return to a country that was so inward looking. So all in all at the moment, life is a little confused.

So what else has been happening? Well I’ve had the joy of being ill, with a stomach bug, thankfully it didn’t last too long. But it wasn’t fun. Last weekend on Sunday, I got out into the garden and had the job of weeding my new flower bed and planting out some new flowers (that I had grown from seed). Unfortunately I have reacted to something and have a rather interesting rash, finally fading and thankfully it was not itchy at all.

We have had beautiful weather this week, and Pat and I have been eating outside most days. Yesterday we did have a storm in the morning but that has passed. This morning is overcast but we are not expecting any rain, which is good as today I do have to weed my vegetable plot (which is coming along nicely). However the poppies have taken over my lavender patch!