Most Brexiteers probably have no wish to live abroad – God forbid! –  but they might have spared a thought for those of us who do. My situation is not as dire as many expats’, having taken out dual citizenship in good time to preserve my ‘freedom of movement’ around Europe – and, I have to say, to grant me a refuge from the madness that just now seems to have afflicted Britain – but I’m still experiencing minor Brexit-related inconveniences.

One is that scarcely any post is reaching me now from the UK; and if it does it’s only after I’m made to fill in forms sent me by Postnord before it can be delivered. These are meant for me to tell them what’s in a package, when I often have no idea; after which they will – apparently – charge me customs duty. I’m currently waiting for several things that were posted before Christmas, for pity’s sake; including a bundle of letters and mags originally delivered to my Hull home and then sent on to me by Mike, my excellent house-sitter. (They include an American Left-wing journal; I wonder if Säpo is involved?) Of course this may be just Postnord’s notorious inefficiency. But I strongly suspect that Brexit is at the bottom of it. It was never like this before. 

Not as serious as trucks piled up at Dover, or fish being left to rot in Aberdeen, I grant you; or as the reputational damage to ‘Stor’ Brittannien this whole episode has caused, with our government now an international laughing stock, and the breakup of ‘Great Britain’ widely predicted. But a good reason for me never to order anything more from UK suppliers while I’m in Sweden. And to urge British correspondents to stick to email. Brexit hasn’t stopped that getting through yet.

PS (next day): I’ve just had a demand for 99 SEK (£9), VAT and customs and handling charges, before Postnord will deliver a package containing a DVD I ordered worth £8. (They’d looked inside.) Apparently that’s Brexit, too. Oh well: we still have our blue passports!

I hope the DVD is worth it. (It’s the Tony Palmer film about Berlioz.)