THREAD:

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

1. Did you see that Juncker video a while back - the one where he grumbled "Those nationalists with their love of their countries"?

2. A very telling moment was that. He knew the power that feeling held.

As much as they tried, the federalists just couldn't get people to shake off that feeling of home. Is it the same sentiment as the Danish/Norwegian 'hygge'? I suspect it is.

3. My aunty stopped coming home years ago. She found the homesickness overwhelming. Despite leaving Blighty decades ago for a better life in Canada, each time she returned 'home' she suffered a period of depression. So she stopped coming back to England. It was too painful.

4. She had her family in Canada, a lovely home in Vancouver, yet a less than beautiful North Nottinghamshire pit village, made up of terraced houses & quite a lot of poverty gave her that feeling of hygge.

5. Which brings me to the EU. That family of nations, that ever closer union. When the chips are down it is nothing more than a charade. Every nation is behaving as nations do, with self interested behaviour, grasping for supplies, unwilling to share in times of need.

6. Politicians know if they aren't seen to be doing right by their people, their careers are over. There is no union, it is just a trade club with cranks at the helm punching above their weight.

I've found myself feeling sorry for Guy Verhofstadt this week. He knows it's over.

7. Any notion that Europe pulls together in a crisis has been smashed. It is broke & broken.

Borders are congested with people going home. They know the migrant work will dry up, so they're heading back to their countries; they're going back home.

8. I saw a brief video with Mrs Merkel saying now is the right time for a European fund for the green deal. It reminded me of someone tap dancing on the deck of a sinking ship. Look over here, everything is business as usual.

9. But supply chains are faltering. My local supermarkets have food but half of the shelves are empty & it certainly isn't through panic buying. They're deserted & the few customers they have are just buying the usual fresh produce such as milk & bread.

10. The manager in the Co-op was attempting joviality at the entrance - I expected a queue but walked straight in & noted that staff outnumbered customers. It felt strange. It was the same in Sainsburys a few days ago - lots of staff but just a few customers & gappy shelves.

11. Even my 2 donkeys are perplexed. It's taking me ages to walk them home through the village in the evening as they keep stopping & looking around for people. Once home, they stand by the wall looking up & down the road, but no-one comes to say hello anymore.

12. There are a lot of retired people in my village who just aren't venturing out. It's now the waiting game. Just as the pandemic in Italy is shifting from North to South, people here sense that what's happening in London may creep outwards & upwards as the weeks progress.

13. There is a lot of talk on the news about Sweden & their more relaxed attitude to Covid19, but Sweden isn't the UK. It has almost twice the land mass of the UK but only circa 15% of our population.

14. Putting it another way, it's like emptying England & Wales of all the people & letting Scotland's population spread out nationwide. That pre existing 'social distancing' gives Sweden a big advantage over our highly populated island.

15. We shall have to endure the cabin fever for a while longer & hope some warm, dry weather gives a helping hand.

Thanks for all the kind messages & I hope you're all okay :-)