This afternoon I was reminded that Brexit isn't just a vague political concept or buzzword. It is very real and has tangible implications. If you follow me then you may have read my Why Brexit Won't Happen Article. I still strongly believe that, however today I saw that it doesn't have to actually happen before triggering negative outcomes.
Euro Job
So today I reconnected with an old friend, I had a business proposition for which I knew she'd be perfect for but hadn't seen her in years.
I tried getting in touch via some old friends, but they just had old numbers for her. So I did something I never thought I'd do. I restarted my Facebook account!
Noooooooooo!!!!!
Oh well, let's face it FB is a great address book if nothing else . . .
Anyway I digress. I finally got to speak to my friend and it was great to catch up, we worked out that it had been around seven years.
She reminded me that it had been sixteen years since she had a permanent address in England.
In those years she had been spending her summers in and around Ibiza. This is because around eighteen years ago she obtained her captain's license and therefore qualified to pilot a boat at sea.
So after a couple of years gaining experience, she went out on her own and started getting work captaining other people's yachts.
Great.
Brexit Bites
Each year when she goes out there, she needs to obtain a temporary license from the authorities which allows her to work in Spanish waters.
This year she went out as usual at the start of the summer and was told that Spain are no longer granting licenses to English captains because of Brexit.
Ouch.
Back With A Bump
So just like that her entire livelihood has gone in the blink of an eye. Perhaps she can build it up again somewhere else. However that will take time, money, and plenty of research, in order to build up the kind of contacts she has nurtured over the past decade and a half.
Analysis
Of course this is just anecdotal, and this article is not to discuss the political merits of being in or out of the European Union.
If you are someone who believes Britain should leave, great. If you think we should stay, great also.
For what it's worth, I believe we should stay however we should use our clout to turn the Union away from being a political entity and focus more on trade and unrestricted travel and work between the member states.
But like I said, that's neither here nor there. What I'm interested in is whether anybody else has experienced negative, or maybe even positive tangible effects of Brexit.
When I say tangible, I mean something as concrete as losing or gaining employment, business opportunities etc. Not I'm happy/sad since the Brexit vote.
SO HAVE YOU OR SOMEBODY YOU KNOW SUFFERED ANY NEGATIVE EFFECTS FROM THE BREXIT VOTE? OR PERHAPS YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAS EVEN GAINED FROM BREXIT?
OR MAYBE YOU'RE JUST WORRIED THAT SOMETHING NEGATIVE WILL HAPPEN ONCE(IF) IT GOES THROUGH? OR ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO SOMETHING POSITIVE HAPPENING AFTER BREXIT?
AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
Related Reading: Seven Reasons Why Brexit Won't Happen
Title image: Maria Imelda on Unsplash