Its been a while since I have contributed anything original to the virtual world.  I guess I have been trying to understand the physical, real world more. Whilst this is another stage of moving on, it is also a world that confuses me and I don’t find easy to deal with.  So many issues, most not about me but our world and the different way I comprehend it compared to the majority of others as counted in polls and referendums.  I was going to write referenda, in tribute to John Lewis, my first Latin Teacher, but I am informed that Referendum in Latin has no plural!

In reverse order, I will deal with the embarrassment first.  I am British born, of English heritage, middle class.  The classic Englishman.  But my father, through his job which involved living around the world, my education of boarding schools sharing with like treated individuals from differing nations and backgrounds and my career, which included working in Africa for a small number of years, 20 years in the heart of the City of London as a public servant and then about 20 years working for the European ideal, puts me in another bracket.

To be clear, I left England – not Britain as I have seldom travelled in the other constituent nations in recent years – in 1991.  In the years since, I have become more and more bemused about the way Britain has gone forward with rows over sausages, straightness of bananas etc, appearing as major headlines in the daily newspapers.  I will not even mention the Euro debate!! I am a committed European Federalist.  I also married a German, which for many years was a great idea and made me very happy.  Suffice to say the Brexit result both sickens and saddens me.  I am sad about the path that Britain intends to take and sickened by the underlying xenophobia which led to the result.  I can see no other reason!

Enough.  OK, I did not mention we lost to Iceland.  The football team continues to be as well managed as our political world, promises much, delivers little!  Here I have a defence.  The Rugby team just stuffed the Australians at home 3-0 and the Cricket team has convincingly defeated Sri Lanka.  So all is not lost.

Absence from FB.  Well I did get carried away reposting Remain material to all my friends, with one notable exception, who probably all voted Remain.  So that was useless.  Otherwise, I have either suffered from a lack of motivation or been too busy to find a quiet time to assemble my thoughts.

I generally live each day on a solitary basis.  This is something I have become used to and I do the daily chores.  Most friends are younger and have to work and so they are busy.  But until my future is clear, I am not engaging on major projects.  This leaves me plenty of time to prevaricate and to postpone jobs.  I can now stretch out  3 simple tasks over 2 days.  Soon I will be down to a task per day.

So the days are quieter and not so motivated.  A lot of my friends have been or are abroad and off island.  So I lack playmates.  But last week was mega!  I was booked every evening in the company of friends and neighbours.  I was even one of the last to leave the bar , different bars, on two nights in a row.

So whilst a lot of friends are away, those still here are stepping up to the mark and bringing fun and enjoyment.  I should post about the Food festival on Saturday and then the live band afterwards.  I took a video on my iPhone, sadly the sound quality is crap.  But a band of 4 made up of a doctor, a chef, Doctor Bass – the size of him – and a lady who put her life and soul into the music, they were brilliant.  She was especially spectacular!

Then after the food festival and the live band, I was kidnapped by aliens.  Apparently they finished playing at 12:00 and I got home  at 02:45.  That was a great night!

So, life is different.  I am more self centred, balanced, a bit bored in the day time but  I worry about Britain, less about myself.  So a great step forward. I will promise to do better and post more often but not about Brexit or football.