Author: Linda Gukicova

Mostly loner, usually cynical, occasionally misanthropic. Born in SK, live in UK. Cat owner. I like taking pictures a bit.
Miscellaneous

The Brexit Anniversary

Linda Gukicova

Today is the anniversary of the Brexit referendum.

The past 12 months have been a rollercoaster of negative emotions, from anger to disappointment, to sadness and helplessness and rage so intense, it made me want to break things. That sick feeling when I woke up on the morning of 24th June 2016 to the referendum results? I never, ever want to experience that again, ever.

It’s exhausting and I’m tired of it.

So–what now? This now.

It was the song.

You know when you listen to a certain song and it, like, does something to you? I’m sure most of you have experienced it. So, I was listening to The Beatles–which is unusual for me as I normally favour 90s to present music, but I bought a ticket to see their museum in Liverpool, so I thought I should play me some of their tunes. Now, I’d known this song since forever, of course, but this is the time I fully and completely and 100% appreciated it.

This was back in April and I was thinking about how it would be a year since the referendum in two months’ time and I should mark that anniversary somehow; I don’t remember exactly how it came about, I just know it had something to do with the song. Then I’ve been coming across some quotes about forgiveness and how holding a grudge is like letting the person live rent-free inside your head and all that and I made a decision.

So today I want to say this to the Leave voters: I forgive you.

You really had no clue what the fuck you were doing. And even if you did have a clue, I still forgive you anyway.

Let it be

Paul McCartney wrote the song after he had a dream in which his late mother spoke those words “let it be” to him. His mum’s name was Mary, so mother Mary is actually her, but he said if you want to interpret it religiously as Virgin Mary, then you can. I see her as a very wise mature lady who knows better. I should probably listen to her more often!

IMG_2033letitbe

Some things I want to add:

  • at times when I felt so hateful towards the whole of UK, I took a few deep breaths and repeated to myself, the 48%, the forty eight percent, THE FORTY EIGHT PERCENT and thought of everything I liked about this country or that came from here (English breakfast, Agatha Christie etc) and I thought of the children, who have lost their chance at being EU citizens before they even knew what it was
  • my line manager at work has been an absolute rock
  • the Facebook group for EU citizens in UK and Brits in EU has been massively helpful to me. I’m prone to anxiety and sometimes I think I’m the only crazy one, so to read that other people are as much worried as me (while the outside world keeps saying oh, but you’ll be alright, they can’t send you back) certainly made me feel better. So much blame is thrown on social media but positives are overlooked.
  • there was a hilarious article in a Swiss paper (link to translation). Switzerland is not in EU and keeps neutral, so I think I can trust their judgement

 

Over to you, Fab Four:

 

I wonder, if anyone would like to share in the comments: is there a song that has made an impact in your life or is important to you in any way?

Random and Weird Phone Shots

Random and Weird Phone Shots – Is It Election Today?

Linda Gukicova

Apparently so, but it makes no difference to me.

I am not allowed to vote in UK because I’m not a UK citizen. (True, I can vote in local elections, but whoever cares about that. Well, maybe you do if you’re a fan of Parks and Recreation but otherwise?)

So in UK, the way it works, Commonwealth citizens are eligible vote in General Election, but EU citizens aren’t. It doesn’t matter if you’ve lived here five years or fifty. That’s why the government is able to play us like a game of chess. We don’t matter.

Honestly, it never did bother me–how much difference does one person’s vote make anyway–until the 2016 Referendum. Then it very much bothered me.  You see, I have this issue with being denied a vote in something that will affect my life.

This snap election has a lot to do with Brexit, as we know. So I’ve been feeling kinda like this:

IMG_20170608_001436189
She can hear, she can see, but she cannot speak

I never take selfies, you know.

I decided I’m getting a pizza on Friday, regardless of the outcome. Pizza, not politics. Like I said before, Breakfast, not Brexit. I have nothing to lose in this, anyway.

So, if you’re here and you can, please don’t forget to go out and vote!

Since I started talking about eligibility to vote, I should also add that UK citizens that have lived in another country for more than 15 years lose their right to vote. I feel I need to mention it, because those British that live in EU countries are the same bargaining chips as us.

 

 

Animals, Weekly Photo Challenge

Friend

Linda Gukicova
IMG_1637copy
A cat, a mouse and an Amazon Fire TV Stick

I try to post pictures of my Pepper only when it’s appropriate–this is not a cat blog. At least I pretend I’m in charge. Of course, Pepper only looks at me like, are you kittin’ me? Any cat owner knows we don’t boss them, they boss us.

So, you know how cats do this thing when they suddenly, without warning, go berserk and run round like crazy for no reason. Apparently it’s to do with them conserving too much energy, which they need to burn. (Tough I personally prefer the more interesting theory of cats chasing ghosts or aliens.) Pepper likes to do this on weekend or Bank Holiday mornings when I sleep late and chill in bed. She shoots from one end to the other (I live in a tiny flat) then stops at my bed and frantically attacks the bedstead with her claws. It could be described as something like this: wobb wobb wobb whoosh d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-r chachadada bang hooo and I realised, hey, it sounds like a dubstep song!

I love this tune. It also features one of my favourite artists–Dizzee Rascal. Enjoy!

Bonus – did you know there is a Wikipedia entry titled Cats and The Internet? Well, now you do.

Friend