Lest we forget

After a long drive in the rain we arrived in Sangatte ready for our crossing to the UK tomorrow. We were a little early so we walked the hundred metres to the beach and stumbled across the war cemetery which seemed very fortuitous given tomorrow’s date. I was very pleased we had found it as it gave me an opportunity for a moment of quiet reflection. While preparing some tea, I got into conversation with the other Airbnb guest staying in the house who is working a gap year as a volunteer with the refugees. I did not realise how big the makeshift camps have become again. Now they receive constant harassment from the police. It is a very sad situation and this along with Brexit make me more and more lament the fact that fewer people regard themselves as citizens of Europe or of the world and retreat into their own national, protective identities.