Travels of a Fish Nut

--> “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” These are the words on the Statue of Liberty, the sight that greeted over 12 million immigrants as they approached Ellis Island to start their new lives in America. Those immigrants, often starting off with nothing more than they could carry, went on to make America an economic powerhouse. They came only with hope and the determination to make a better life for themselves and their children.

[Click here for part 1 and here for part 2 ] Things are hotting up in the run-up to the referendum as the official campaigns have been chosen by the Electoral Commission . Britain Stronger in Europe is organising the ‘Stay’ campaign while Vote Leave have been designated the official ‘Leave’ campaign. Vote Leave has written a ‘Case’ for leaving. It’s a 36-page PDF document that paints a picture of a bright and rosy future if only we’d do the sensible thing and leave the sinking ship that is the EU.

[Part 1 can be found here ] Almost two months ago I left the UK and, via a short (but fantastic) stop in Bangkok, I landed almost half way round the world in Australia to start a PhD. Before I left I went to a couple of foreign exchange places. Both offered an exchange rate that gave me almost exactly $2 to the £ (so ‘almost exactly’ that I got $200 for £100). Less than two months later that same £100 will get me a measly $187. Now, you could argue that the Australian dollar is just doing really well, but given that there's a bit of a slump due to the (temporary) collapse of the mining industry, this seems like wishful thinking. In fact the reason for the change is not an increase in the value of the AUD, but the decrease in value of the GPB. The slump gained significant momentum when Boris Johnson backed Brexit and there is no sign of things improving.

[This has become much longer than I expected so I’ve decided to break this up into two posts. Probably two posts. . . . Hopefully just two posts . . . We’ll see. . . ] The EU referendum election is coming up on 23rd June. I don’t think it comes as any great surprise to hear that I’ll be voting to stay in, but I thought it might be worth taking some time to explain exactly why I not only feel that we should stay in, but why I feel extremely passionately that this is the best thing for the UK.

This time next week I should be boarding my plane at Heathrow. That means that this is my last week in the UK for, well, I don’t know how long. I’m sure I will be back, I just don’t know when, and that means that this week has become ‘a week of lasts’. It’s ridiculous and irrational but I can’t help myself. Tonight was the last time I’ll go to the local historical society talk. On Wednesday I have two lasts – last time I’ll be in Bristol and last trip to the cinema. Thursday is also planned to be another day with two lasts – last roast dinner and last meal with both mum and Jo. Then it’s my last weekend at home. Then it’s my last night in my bed. Then it’s my last day. My last look around the garden, my last filling of the bird feeders, my last cup of tea, my last hug with Huxley. . . 

I have 15 days.  15 days before I head to Heathrow to fly, via a few days in Bangkok, to Perth where I am the starting a PhD. I keep getting asked if I’m excited. The honest answer is not really. With the wind howling and the rain lashing down it’s hard to imagine that there is a place where it’s warm and sunny, let alone that I’m going to be in that place in just over two weeks time! It feels too incredible to be true.

Over the last few years I have become increasingly interested in feminism. I have always been a feminist, even if I may not have called myself as such. I finished school in the late 1990s (class of 2000, to be precise) and I believed I could have it all - career and family (not that I ever wanted kids but that's not relevant to this discussion). What is, is that when I left school I slowly began to realise that the story I'd been sold was a pack of lies. Having it all is hard, some might say impossible. There's always compromise and it soon became apparent to me that the bulk of the compromise seemed to fall on women. That's not true, of course, but the compromise falls differently for men and women. Men are supposed to compromise by putting their work first - but working late at the office and being always on call so that their family takes second place. Women, on the other hand are supposed to always put their family first, above and beyond their job or even their ow...