It's 15 October 2021.
Theresa May is managing the Brexit as well as possible and maybe that is why the Conservatives have won the elections last year. She remained Prime Minister but reshuffled her cabinet a bit again.
There is a constant flow of pensioners coming back from European countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece. The visas and permits to stay in these countries have expired and so they are forced to come back to the UK, often they have to sell property for a lot less than what the price normally would be.
There are already 600.000 of them and there are expectations that more than a million will follow. It has caused a housing problem. The Labour shadow cabinet has suggested that second homes and holiday houses should be used to solve this. The Tories have rejected this immediately, so the repatriates are forced to stay with relatives and friends.
A few weeks ago we received a letter from the Home Office that I should prepare myself to be removed from the country for the obvious reason that I am a European foreigner. Of course we made use of the possibility to oppose to this. I received as reaction that my case was being handled but that it would not have the effect for me to not send me to a Immigration Removal Centre when my time was due. It would be possible that the decision had to be made while I was being prepared for being forced out of the UK.
We talked about this with relatives and neighbours, but nobody really knew what could be done against it. A neighbour said this all was impossible, it was so very not British. I reminded him of some history: concentration camps were an invention by the British during the Boer wars. They had been very efficient, I added cynically, one third of the inmates died. He tried to assure me things would not be like that nowadays.
A pickup truck drove up to the front of our house this morning. In the back I could see the pharmacist and her family (Chinese), the cook of the cafe where we sometimes ate (American) and two women from the staff of the hotel in the village, who probably were Polish or Bulgarian or such. They all looked a bit cold sitting there unprotected.
Two men came to our door, their hair very short like military. They were wearing civilian clothes but had armbands on saying Assistant Police. They told me to get on the truck.
I asked them if I could pack some things first at which they reacted quite irritated. I had a three week period already to pack, they said but they agreed anyway. While I was busy doing this, one of the men was ordering me to hurry, "they didn't have all day".
My wife pleaded with the other man, saying I was her husband and her carer. He reacted that there were plenty of Englishmen who could do this too.
I had my things packed and I could quickly kiss her goodbye.
At the door she asked the men where they would bring me; they told her it would be the Removal Centre of Colchester.
"But how do I get there to visit him?"
"You don't!"
They pushed me on the back of the pickup and I sat down next to the pharmacist on a blanket. My suitcase was thrown in after me, the men went in the car and hastily drove away. I fell over and before I could wave at my wife we were out of the street.
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