THE ENGLISH WAY OUT OF THE EU

The tide of English history ebbs and flows. via DG Studios

How does England leave the European Union? By the English Way, thank you very much.

Checking my history book on this, but the last time England left the European Union was Dunkirk in 1940.

Wiki says: “In total, 338,226 troops were pulled off the beaches, of which 230,000 were British. However, almost all the army’s equipment had been abandoned in France — many soldiers were unable to bring even their rifles.”

At least modern England didn’t need a ferry flotilla to leave this time.

Fans of the English way have to wonder why England ever joined with the group of countries they warred against through the ages, particularly France and Germany.

You have to see the English way through English eyes, like my mother in law from Devon.

Her future husband and father in law took part in the Dunkirk evacuation, one of them by ship to help the other on land.

A research trip in 2004 cleared a few things up.

In spite of the pomp and circumstances America sees with each royal marriage, royal birth, and royal funeral where all the rolling stock and crowns come out of storage, England felt like a dour place.

It wasn’t the warm beer, the fish and chips with the fish head still attached, or the toilet with eight external pipes flushing a Niagara Falls worth of water down a hole big enough to carry a shoe.

It wasn’t the weather or the historical gravity of every town, every beach, every church and castle.

Every stop showed people used to slogging along with a stiff upper lip and a cheerless duty to carry on.

That’s the English way.

Happy wasn’t the first emotion on English faces. Maybe that’s what happens when you live on island that once ruled the waves, ruled the world, ruled America.

We all know what happened when the U.S. decided to leave the British Empire? England won’t have a new version of the Revolutionary War. George Washington won’t be walking through that door anytime soon, but Boris Johnson might.

Once the vote was final, the current Prime Minister announced he was quitting, standing down, abandoning his station. David Cameron, in a hit on all Davids, is leaving the building.

Is brexit a big deal, as big as it feels? Britain joined the European Community in 1973; twenty years later they joined the new European Union. Nine years later the whole continent is passing Euros instead of local money and the Queen’s face isn’t featured.

That wasn’t a deal breaker for the English way.

What was the deal breaker? Maybe it was the obligation to shore up Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain?

That’s how a union works. You help the weak links even if you don’t agree with the work ethic of your partners.

England doesn’t have tapas. They don’t shut down in the middle of the day like Spain.

As a former world conqueror, England joins Rome and Athens. With a reign was more recent than Italy and Greece, Britain still has a residual memory of their greatness.

And they want more. Going it alone might be the answer, but try explaining that to the younger generation who grew up in the EU.

Once Queen Elizabeth finally hands the ball to Prince Charles, with Prince William warming up in the bullpen, England will have a new voice unencumbered by the noise on the Continent.

By making the proper moves to a better future England will show their best side to the world, and the world will once again look to them for inspiration.

Or,???

Comments welcome.