Vaccine vs. Mask

[gil]

It will be the first time for us (from the U.S.) will need a visa to visit mainland Europe as well. Do you think ETIAS is specifically to punish Britain, and Yanks are just collateral damage?

Well the EU spent the last 50 years promoting frictionless travel, freedom of movement of people and the aim was to have no borders across the continent - a United States of Europe if you like. Then after the UK referendum to leave, they suddenly come up with this idea. Its a bit suspicious.

Which part of France are you heading? I've only been to the touristy parts to be honest.

Do you mind if I ask if you think Brexit was a good idea? I can imagine that it's a bit like a breakup - the jilted party doesn't want to keep prividing benefits to the one who left.

I'm going to Angers, then to Toulouse, and then I hope to be able to spend time in Aix-en-Provence. Flying in and out of Marseille.

[ddraig]

If you are driving from Angers to Toulouse, try to route yourself through Sarlat and take a day going to the Lascaux caves.

[gil]

If you are driving from Angers to Toulouse, try to route yourself through Sarlat and take a day going to the Lascaux caves.

Thanks. I wanted to go to the Lascaux caves the last time I was in France, but something prevented it. It might hav been no reservations available, but I forget. I visited another cave - I think it was Grotte de Rouffignac. Riding for quite a ways underground on a narrow gauge tram to a very large cave.

Will you be in Paris for the Olympics?

[mostonmike]

Do you mind if I ask if you think Brexit was a good idea? I can imagine that it's a bit like a breakup - the jilted party doesn't want to keep prividing benefits to the one who left.

I'm going to Angers, then to Toulouse, and then I hope to be able to spend time in Aix-en-Provence. Flying in and out of Marseille.

Aaarrrgh, the Brexit question. Best never to talk about it. Ever since the vote, the media blame every failure on it and rarely give any credit for success.

It was such a marginal decision by such a fine margin that polarised the country and still does. So now we just have “that’s Brexit for you” thrown out there for every twist and turn of a poor government and ministry.

But right now we’ve not been able to fulfil any of the intended benefits so at this early stage it’s proving to be the wrong decision. Not by a huge margin as there are still things that would have been worse under the EU like immigration and the vaccine rollout. Immigration is still ridiculously high, but would be even worse if freedom of movement from the EU was still allowed and forget whether you think the vaccine is safe & effectively we were able to buy what we wanted from wherever we wanted instead of having to be part of the EU centralised rollout scheme. The UK led the world in vaccine rollout thanks to Brexit and our own development.

No-one in the media or country ever really looks at this from a long-term view. We joined the Common market, as it was known, in 1973 and voted to leave in 2016 so perhaps the overall judgment on whether it’s better out than in should perhaps be made in the 2050s? We are not going to endure doomsday or dystopia in the meantime. We have had plenty of that caused by non-Brexit related decisions in the past 8 years anyway.