= Сообщение: 9206 из 12492 ====================================== ENET.SYSOP = От : Michiel van der Vlist 2:280/5555 30 Dec 19 23:37:29 Кому : David Rance 30 Dec 19 23:37:29 Тема : Brexit FGHI : area://ENET.SYSOP?msgid=2:280/5555+5e0a83fc На : area://ENET.SYSOP?msgid=2:203/2+5e0885be = Кодировка сообщения определена как: CP850 ================================== Ответ: area://ENET.SYSOP?msgid=2:203/2+5e0b37dc ============================================================================== Hello David,
On Sunday December 29 2019 11:53, you wrote to me:
MvdV>> Regarding the Brits, the perception of many this side of the MvdV>> channel is that they have alway been a bit "foreign".
DR> Well, we *are* not only a bit foreign but a lot foreign, even amongst DR> ourselves! ;-)
If you say so, who am I to argue? ;-)
MvdV>> The UK joined the European Union, but the hearts and minds of MvdV>> the Brits were never fully in it. Not joining the Euro, not MvdV>> joining Schengen, driving on the other side of the road, MvdV>> imperial measures...
DR> <sigh> Yes, I know. I would have preferred to have joined the Euro DR> then I'd have no problem in having to exchange currency when DR> transferring my money to my French bank account.
When I order something on-line from Germany, Belgium or France, I can pay by on-line bank transfer just the same as if the order was placed in The Neterlands. Also the goods arrive within a day or two.
My wife Rosa collects dolls. In October she found a doll on E-bay that she very much wanted to have. It was offered by a seller in the UK. The price was 20 Pound. An additional 20 Pound for sending. So after some hesitation, I said, OK, let's give it a try. The seller's first option was PayPall, but I don't trust them. So I suggested an IBAN transfer. After exchanging mails for a couple of days, the seller gave me an IBAN number. I ordered my bank to do the transfer. To my surprise the bank charged me EUR 8, transfer cost. This didn't take minutes as is usual with international bank transfers within the Eurozone, but it took almost a week. And then it started, The seller send the package by Royal mail. But the tracking code stopped at the UK border. I had no way to track the package beyond the UK border. Apparently there is no good comunication between UK Mail and its Continental partners. I waited and waited and waited. After two weeks I finally tracked the parcel to Post NL and it turned out they made one attempt to deliver but we were not at home. No message, no nothing. So the parcel was returned to sender. The sender agreed to another try and we finally got it. It took a month and I paid EUR 50 for a 20 Pound doll. This was before Brexit.... The systems just do not interface between the UK and the EU...
No way I will ever again buy something on-line in the UK...
DR> But then it would have been bad for the UK economy.
Would it? Really?
By that same reasoning Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland should never have joined the Pound Sterling and have kept their own currency instead.
DR> Schengen? - well we didn't hear about that until years after it DR> happened. I think the first I'd heard of it was from Ward here - if DR> you can believe that!
I know, I watched it happen. But then how come the UK people never heard about schengen? Did the government hide it from them? Or were the UK people - and so the UK press - never all that interested in what happened in Europe?
DR> Driving on the other side of the road? Well we drive on the *correct* DR> side of the road. Even the Americans get that wrong (Hello, Janis!).
I once heard an argument based on the fact that most man are right handed and so swordsman carried their sword on the left. This should favour one side in case of defending against an attack by robbers from an ambush. The fact that I forgot which side it favours is telling. I do not know of any compelling objective argument in favour of left or right drive.
But what I do know is that mixing the two is unsafe. You yourself have been in a car crash caused by someone driving on the "other side". Traffic would be safer if every driver's reflexes were tuned to driving on the /same/ side. And the majority drives on the right side of the road...
Yes, I realise that changing is a gigantic operation. The UK should have followed the majority in the 60ties just as Sweden did. But then of course The UK was an island and the 50 km between Calais and Dover was an ocean to cross...
DR> Imperial measures? Well we're half and half. I have a set of weights DR> for both systems in my kitchen. But we do have to sells goods in DR> metric (we passed that law years ago).
Hmmm... Earlier today I saw a sign with "speed limit 60 mph" in a news flash. OK, that was Northern Ireland. But that it still the UK isn't it?
DR> But we're not the only ones to hang on to what we know. My late DR> neighbour in France was converting all transactions to *old* old DR> francs before he could understand them, right up to his death in 2004.
And that one was easy. Wasn't it one "Nouvea Franc for 100 old Francs"?
MvdV>> Plus that after 31 jan, you will only be half out. The UK will MvdV>> still have to follow all the EU rules until 31 Dec. You will go MvdV>> from half in to half out.
DR> No, we (and I mean the Brits generally) will go from half out to half DR> in, based on the idea that we're getting what (we think) we want!
I am afraid that those who think that way are in for a dissapointment. But it was their choice...
