A Message From Uncle Ebeneezer

Exactly! Although I have a sneaking suspicion we may already be doing that at these so-called European markets.I don't think I've ever seen anything on the stalls that I couldn't get in a shop in the UK.

@WorDazza The compromise that you suggest is far too likely. By the time that the government and the House of Lords have set their conditions, it will constitute Brexit on paper only.

If we do leave then it will be such a fudged compromise that it won't even resemble leaving and we'll probably end up worse off than we were. At the time of the referendum I saw a youtube video of some guy who was claiming the result was fixed for Brexit so the powers that be could scare the life out of us as to how bad it was all going to be so we'd go scurrying back to the EU, take the Euro and be sucked ever deeper into the murky quagmire of European integration. I put him down as a tin-foil hat wearer but I'm not so sure now!

@Asylum We'll probably end up essentially still being members of the EU but with none of the advantages.

Well there are quite a few European elections next year so stand by!!

@WorDazza The freedom to devalue the Lira (the Dracma for Greece and Pesetas for Spanish) was a great boost for the tourism in those countries. They also played with their currency to be more competitive when they needed to export more. Italy has gone all the way down since we joined the EU. It was a lot better before, middle class is disappearing and there are more and more poor people in Italy.

@LadyDuck I think this is one of the major downsides to European financial integration which people lose sight of. The economies of individual European countries are so different it's impossible to implement a fiscal policy that benefits everyone. What is right for an industrial powerhouse with a falling population like Germany is not going to be right for a country that relies heavily on tourism like Greece or Spain. Youth unemployment is currently running at around 50% in Spain. But it would seem people would rather have cheaper mobile phone calls and data tariffs in Europe and would rather not have to queue at airport passport control than see young people in Spain have jobs.

Well this is one of the reasons I voted for the UK to leave the EU. I could see us eventually getting sucked into the Euro and losing that ability to take some control over our economy by allowing our currency to fluctuate. Although it could be worse for Italy. They could be Greece!!

@WorDazza T'is true, as I live and breathe!

That has often been said about me!!

A December wind in Manchester is most definitely ill.

Human nature. Blame everyone but ourselves!!

@WorDazza Well, that is interesting! I happen to agree with you... Hmmm... I wonder if one of us should be very afraid?! LOL! This is the first time I have ever had excess vacation time. (Walmart recently changed how the associates earn vacation time... Actually, they changed a lot more than that, but the vacation changes were the ones that affected me the most.) I took a week and a half vacation in June? And then another week in August. I checked to see how much I had remaining a few days ago and was shocked! I have almost nine weeks of accrued vacation remaining with the fiscal year coming to an end in February. I have to use the remaining time, roll it into the next year or cash it out. (On top of that, my hire date is February 8, so more vacation piles on... LOL!) I am allowed to roll 80 hours into the next fiscal year. I am not allowed to take vacation from now until after the second week of January. I put in for the rest of January off, but was denied the last week. Two of the managers directly above me had already put in for the later week off, so I can't have it. That means I will roll the max allowed over into next year, and Walmart will simply cash out the rest of my accrued vacation. (I'd rather take it, but am not allowed to do so.) Pretty and I usually do a minimum of celebrations on Thanksgiving and Christmas... Neither one of us particularly care, but our family gripe (polite word there) if we don't do anything, although why it is their business is beyond me! Even when Pretty was young, she didn't particularly care about the holidays.,,, (I suppose I "infected" her with the "I don't give a dump." virus.)

@DaddyEvil I suspect that might work for me and the dog but I'm not sure Mrs WorDazza would be prepared to give up her WorDazza time so easily!!

I can't stand the whole commercialisation thing that goes on and also the forced cheerfulness of many people at this time of year. What I like most about Christmas is that our offices shutdown for about a week and I've usually got so much holiday left that I have to use before the end of the year that I can usually finish work half way through December and not return until the new year. Other than that I can take it or leave it.

3 years? I don't think we'll be that lucky. The moaning will go on for much longer than that!!

@WorDazza Do tell me why you find Henning Wehn brilliant. I can't stand the man.

@MALUSE I just find his observations on British life from a German perspective pretty funny.

I suspect they are somewhat more authentic in Germany. The brilliant German comedian Henning Wehn, after visiting a German Christmas market in the UK, said that he was amazed at how many of his countrymen could speak fluent Albanian!!

I think they've become yet one more box to tick for the social media generation.

Well, believe it or not, there are many in the UK who blame Brexit for the USA election result!

@CRK109 I don't think there's much more to it than people are just hacked off with politics and politicians at the moment.

@WorDazza I've heard that theory, among so many others. It feels like something is going on but none of us can really figure out exactly what happened. I guess time will tell the truth!

We never have done in the UK. About the only sensible thing the government did during that period was to refuse to be tied into the Euro.

@FayeHazel The only real change so far has been the value of the pound has fallen against the Euro and the Dollar but it's slowly clawing its way back up so I doubt there'll be any long term damage. In any case it makes British exports cheaper so it's not all bad.

@WorDazza Oh wow, I didn't know that. So at least that won't change...

@amitkokiladitya No problem.

@WorDazza yes but if it is for some good it is worth all it. Can you tell me what actually happened in your country?

@WorDazza thanks for making me aware of this