I’m a Londoner by birth and an Essex native by upbringing. I met my partner in London in late 2010. We began our relationship after a passionate first date and, three months later our - entirely unplanned - first child came along. We were living in North West London at the time and decided to move back to Essex where we currently live, close to my family in order to bring up our daughter in a more suburban environment. Three years later our son came along.
My partner came here as an au pair back in 1999 and has, for nearly twenty years, resided in the U.K. She’s always worked, often doing multiple jobs to make ends meet and contributed more than some members of my own extended family who resided on the dole for decades. As much as she misses the the culture of the Czech Republic and of course her family, she loves life in the U.K especially the humour and the outward looking, multicultural nature of most Brits.
This is why the morning of the referendum result we found ourselves in tears at the prospect of our family being broken apart by the stupidity that is Brexit. We‘re worried about what will happen should Brexit mean that unskilled workers from the EU are effectively barred from coming here. We’re worried that should post 2019 one of her parents passes away, will she be able to attend the funeral? The fear of not being allowed back into the country, effectively cutting her off from her two children would stop her from attending the funeral of a parent. Just imagine that. I’m pretty sure most Brexiters haven’t even considered such a thing.
Luckily our children qualify for an EU passport (we’re in the process of making them dual Czech-British nationals) and, thankfully so do I via my long deceased Northern Irish grandfather, meaning if push came to shove we’d move into an EU state - Spain is top of our list as my parents own property there (which will one day become mine and my brothers), and the idea of a Mediterranean lifestyle definitely appeals to the both of us.
But we love living here. Why should we be forced to change our life, move away from everything we know to accommodate the views of the ignorant and the misguided? I hope Brexit implodes. I hope those that championed it are consigned to the dustbin of history.
My partner and I hope that Britain comes to its senses before it’s too late.
Anonymous
