Readers in Britain and Europe on navigating relationships with our continental cousins
I was fascinated by Zoe Williams’ article about travelling in Europe (As a Brit abroad post-Brexit, I wanted to wear a badge saying: ‘Don’t look at me – I didn’t vote for this!’, 15 August). In May and June, my wife, our dog and I travelled in our motorhome over an eight-week period through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. I was expecting to see surprise smiles, smirks even, when we ventured to converse with locals. Strangely, such reactions didn’t occur. Pretty much everyone was polite and cheery towards us.
The Germans and Slovenians seemed delighted to have us in their countries. The eight weeks passed with hardly a mention of Brexit, except when we initiated apologies ourselves. The most embarrassing time was when chatting to a couple from the US. The conversation flowed quite well, with us applying the typical Brit irony to our repartee. The conversation was killed, however, when Donald Trump was mentioned. So, all in all, Brexit was less embarrassing than Trumpism.
Mal Jones
Cardiff
