I have been worried about this for weeks and, as it turns out, I was right to worry. I don't know what to think.
The pound has already fallen against the US dollar in anticipation of this. We recently purchased a house and moved our house money over from the US when the pound was between $1.40 and $1.45. Today it is at $1.36. Our original plan was to wait until after the referendum to purchase, in case the country voted to leave, but we didn't and now I wish we had. Steve is much calmer about all this than me and says we got a good rate, considering it was over $1.60 just last year and that it is impossible to catch these things exactly. And we love our house and will be in it for 10 years probably.
Also worried about the US stock market, of course.
Cameron, the prime minister, has announced he will step down in October when they will have a party conference to replace him. The news says it will probably be Boris Johnson, former mayor of London, who will be the new leader but Teresa May, the current Home secretary, has also been mentioned. Many think this was Johnson's plan all along and he has been setting himself up to be the next Conservative leader.
The media has mentioned that a general election may be called even though they recently passed legislation changing how we vote here - elections are now held every 5 years instead of being called when the party in power decides (any time before 5 years).
Some people in the Labour party are using this as an excuse to try to get rid of Corbyn, their leader, because many think he is too left-wing. He was also supporting IN.
Nicola Sturgeon, head of the SNP, has said Scotland will have another referendum for leaving the UK. This makes sense since the UK is leaving the EU, but I don't want to see Scotland leave the UK.
It seems like nothing will happen fast. I don't like the turmoil, especially in the stock market, but daily life will be less expensive for us because of the drop in the pound. The Euro has dropped too against the US dollar. I think the Swiss Franc has risen and our next vacation is in Switzerland.
We went for a hike in the pouring rain this morning, to calm me down, and on the trails we talked with two women. One was a beef farmer from Wiltshire. Both voted REMAIN but the farmer's husband voted LEAVE. She said there is a huge amount of paperwork because of EU regulations for farmers, but there are also subsidies. She said they moved from dairy to beef because you can't make money in dairy. Their local dairy brings in milk from France!
I can understand why people voted LEAVE. I don't think they are only concerned with immigration, but that is a big concern on a small and very crowded island. The UK never went on the Euro so it has always stood a bit outside the EU. But I don't think we should have had a referendum on this.
