Post 14 travels past but not present

 

I wrote this poem in March 2020, with a lighthearted attitude; thinking that it surely couldn’t be as bad as all the doom mongers were predicting. Nuff said!

BRELEGY      

Farewell friends from o’er the sea
Where we can no longer be
No excuse for schadenfreude
Or need to cross an EU border
No more Costa, no more Med
English will be all that’s said

No more continental jaunts
To lovely European haunts
No more Bonjour or Bonsoir
Or mildly hopeful Au Revoir
On this island we will be
Eating scones and drinking tea
Amongst our own we’ll have to stay
Keeping foreigners at bay!

No risotto or moussaka
No paella or frittata
No provencale de potage
Or the waft of strong fromage
No more pizza or baguette
Or pungent garlic will we get
No more pasta, no more wine
On British dishes we will dine
Cabbage, spuds and scrumptious swede
Will be all our tummies need!

 

At this time of year, in 2018, Pete and I left our beloved shack in Pembrokeshire, for, what had become, a regular Winter break in warmer European climes. Little did we know that it was to be the last time we would get to travel in our van, a converted horsebox on a DAF truck body; which was also our much prized ‘second home’.

We left behind the latent trauma of Brexit, secure in our assumed belief that it wouldn’t change future Winter plans for our annual getaways. How wrong were we! Apart from the Brexit upheaval and the Covid pandemic, in October 2020 Pete ended up in hospital with heart failure; which meant he had to give up his HGV licence; and it also put a stop to untrammelled journeys sur ‘le Continent’ .

For us, our holidays started when we locked our front door and drove away. Our journeys were never planned out, more than the basic needs of booking the ferry and organizing necessary paperwork. Apart from two fantastic forays into Morocco, we had never gone further into Europe than France, Spain and Portugal.

We both loved the experience of the unexpected; the myriad vistas of stunning landscape; the satisfaction of accurate map reading! Just driving till nearly dark, searching for somewhere to park up for the night; and the absolute delight of wild camping; alone in some desolate place, staring up into a starry night.

After twenty years of self sufficient living on our smallholding in Carmarthenshire, travelling became the replacement to fending for ourselves. There were many times when we had to deal with a crisis; breakdowns, finding help in an unknown environment, dangerous terrain and violent weather. The despair and frustration, at the time of these events, was rapidly forgotten when we had successfully solved/circumvented a barrier to our journey.

I am sorry to say that the alternatives to this mode of holiday travel do not appeal. The thought of waiting at airports, struggling with luggage and organizing where to stay are not our idea of a relaxing break. It is very unlikely that we will bother to attempt such; and now, with the increased restrictions imposed by Brexit, and the removal of favourable EU conditions (eg medical travel cards) it will be hard to consider preferring to be anywhere other than this beautiful part of Wales.

To finish, just one more ode to mourn our not so splendid isolation from our European relations;  written in July 2019.

BREXIT DAZE   

Never fear, when BREXIT’s here
Thou gritty Island race
We’ve made our choice
We’ve raised our voice
And now the future face

At last, we can relax and say
We have no need to still display
Delusions of the role we play
In World events. Let’s just ignore
All Jingoism gone before

We’ll show the world of what we’re made
And sally forth with fork and spade
To grow our veg; or plant a hedge
We’ll feed ourselves, and get so healthy
We will not need to be so wealthy!

Let’s hope that this optimistic attitude will, finally, win the day!