a change is coming

It was September 17, 2016, some three months after the Brexit referendum, that I last crossed the border into Spain. I had already made my decision before then not to bother crossing while the restrictions on Gibraltarians would be so great following Britain’s decision to leave the EU. However, a friend asked me to cover his wedding and, having said yes months earlier, I was never going to let him down purely because of my own personal views on politics.

So, on September 17, 2016, I crossed the border for the last time, promising myself that unless there was some immediate urgency, something extremely important, I wouldn’t just cross into Spain merely to do things I could do in my own country. Whether it was to have a coffee or buy groceries, not if it meant queuing up and having to put up with bureaucracy which was purely created to undermine us and make life as difficult as possible.

Indeed, credit where credit is due, for most Gibraltarians it wasn’t any harder than it had been before because Spain had willingly decided not to implement the very rules our British counterparts had decided to adopt through their vote in favour of leaving the EU.

For me, though, it was simply hypocritical to stand there and queue, even if only for a few moments.

So, to this day, I haven’t crossed. I will, though, if that day in July comes.

And you will ask why. Why the change of mind? Well, it’s not a change of mind.

You see, I was born in 1969 and, during the many years of the border closure, I lived without stepping freely into Spain. The two times we did cross, we had to go through Tangier merely to see our relatives on the other side of the border and maintain contact. Even when the border partially opened, it never really did. It was simply open gates with somebody at the entrance making you wait, making you sweat, making you worry whether you were on the wrong side of their mood that day.

As I grew older, I got used to it. Having lived in the UK for some years and then returned to Gibraltar, before renting in Spain because there was nowhere to rent in Gibraltar, you begin to see the freedoms others enjoy through free movement beyond a small town, where nobody stops you as you cross from one town into the next. The border became an even greater restriction in my mind through its very existence than it had been when it was closed. At least when it was closed, you knew where you stood. When it was partially open, you were in the hands of politicians and their daily dose of whatever happened to fill them that day.

So my decision in 2016 was an easy one for me. Not so easy for my family at the time, who, when my then partner got her car, couldn’t understand why I still wouldn’t cross. And, of course, the friction that caused.

But to this day I have stood my ground and remained true to what I believed. And no, there is no hatred towards the Spanish people. Quite the opposite. I consider them as close to us as they are. They are our neighbours and, as such, there should always be peace and understanding between neighbours. I’m sure nobody likes to wake up in the morning, open their front door and be met by friction from next door. So we all try to be the best neighbours we can be.

That has always been my belief, so when there is friction, you are better off keeping your door closed.

But this summer that door opens, and it opens for real.

Yes, the claims will continue. The differences over whose territory this is will continue. The past cannot be hidden because it happened. And while the barriers may come down, the line between us will still exist.

But the aim will be for there to be no friction at that crossing. Walking from one side to the other simply to have a cup of coffee should feel exactly that — like going for a coffee — not like jumping hurdles and having to wait to do so.

It should feel no different from waiting to buy a train ticket or standing at a bus stop, not having to navigate 300 years of political differences.

Ever since I was old enough to understand there was a gate and a barrier separating them and us, the only thing I have ever wished for is to see that barrier disappear.

So, almost a decade later, I look forward to that day, if it arrives on July 15. I probably won’t cross on that very day, but I will one day afterwards because none of the reasons I had for refusing to cross will any longer exist.

And for those who think I am mad, who wonder how I have kept my sanity, it’s simple. It’s what I have always known. There is no difference today from what there was years ago. If you are not comfortable living in your home, fix your home so it becomes comfortable. Don’t look to move because then it is no longer your home.

And I am quite comfortable with my home.