The Berlin Wall

On the day of the EU Referendum in the UK, I am in Berlin.

I come here around every 15 years passing through first a few months before the wall came down.

I remember the differences between East and West Germany in those days. The West was more like the country I lived in, the East like the same country in the 1940's. I saw abandoned, rusting old cars and women in long skirts feeding geese from straw baskets.

On my return in 2001, I felt that same divide in East and West Berlin, but now the integration is complete, or at lest on the surface. Our guide Mara tells me that in the former East attitudes to childcare and general social helpfulness are a lot stronger, whereas in Germany as a whole there is a lot more emphasis on commerce than community.

Having pledged my postal vote to stay in the EU, I am worried that voting out may be erecting another wall. This time between ourselves and the continent.