Fashion With A Story: Brexit Broke My heart

The fashion photo shoot in this blog post happened quite a few weeks ago, and even though I really love the photos (thanks to my editing skills and Lucinda’s great camera skills) I didn’t want to post just an outfit post. The fashion posts I love the most are the ones that tell some kind of a story and I felt like the story of a sunny and freezing afternoon with my girls and how much I love my new boots and jumper just wasn’t going to cut it this time. I knew I wanted to say something meaningful, something that might make you pause and think. If even just for a moment.

Something that would maybe put a smile on your face or leave you feeling a little warmth. It turns out it’s much harder to write when you want to have that effect. This post has been in drafts for weeks, empty because I simply couldn’t find the words, nor was I sure what I actually wanted to say.

Sunnydei isn’t usually a place where I share much emotional and overly personal content. I prefer to keep my little corner of the internet sunny and happy and full of food and adventures. But it seems that there are more and more hate and negativity in this world, to the point where it’s becoming harder to ignore it.

There are currently three people with corrupted and likely quite small minds in very high political power who really shouldn’t be and quite frankly it’s terrifying.

This isn’t a political blog nor will it ever be but I will never forget the morning of the Brexit announcement.

I and the boy were in Palanga, a beautiful seaside town in Lithuania. The beach is covered is soft milky white sand, the edges surrounded by a pine forest which stretches over for miles and miles. We woke up to the smell of the sea and the pine trees.It smelled of adventure, it smelled of summer.

We woke up in a beautiful and tranquil surrounding but also in the worst hotel we had ever stayed in our whole lives. It wasn’t actually a hotel, it was an old very soviet looking building of apartments all converted to be rented out. It cost us something like £10 a night and looked like something from a post-war 1970’s Russia. There was even a hole in our ceiling! Just remembering how bad it was is making me laugh as I write this. I was poor that summer and I love a good bargain so thought I found an amazing deal...turns out it was obviously £10 for a reason.

We were staying next door to a very posh spa hotel, so we had a shower, got dressed and went next door for a delicious all you could eat buffet breakfast. Once we sat down to eat we connected to the wifi to find out the referendum results. I have to say I really really didn’t think that there were enough people who would actually vote leave, it seemed so weird to me to think that someone would actually want that. When Oliver (on the blog also known as ‘the boy’) read out the result, I felt such a whirlwind of emotions. I felt confused, nauseous and unbearably sad most of all.

This was my first time back in Lithuania in 8 years. I have lived in Ireland or Northern Ireland to be precise since I was 13 and moved to Leeds when I was 18. For the last 11 years of my life, I have lived in the UK.

Over the years I have fallen in love with evergreen Irish hills. With with my school uniform. With the thick Northern Irish accent which seemed to strange and ugly to me when I first got there. With my best friends who I have shared priceless memories with. With Shakespeare. With potato bread and Irish stew. With salt and vinegar flavoured crisps, chips and gravy, toast (I had never had toast before I moved to Ireland!) With the country park and the river that runs through it. With the way, the sun set over the hills.

I grew up there and turned into the person that I am today.

Then I chose to go to Leeds and I’ve fallen in love all over again.

With the architecture of the city. With Roundhay Park.  With my university campus. With the freedom that came with leaving home and living on my own for the first time. With the people who I share incredible memories with. With The Lake District. With York, Manchester, Hebden Bridge and London. With Flat Whites. With Kirkstall Abbey. With the boy.

Brexit, broke my heart.

My passport is Lithuanian but the UK is my home and it terrifies me that if I decide to move abroad again and experience another adventure I might not be able to come home.

It also terrifies me that people from the UK and from Europe might not be able to have a similar experience that I have had. Travelling opens up your mind and your heart in more ways that you can imagine.

I’ve visited The Berlin wall and with all my heart I hope that history doesn’t repeat itself. Whatever the colour of your skin, whatever your religion, whatever nationality your passport states. It doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. I hope that somehow the universe finds a way for us to reconnect with one another and find the compassion and love within us to prevent any more violence and heartbreak. In the meantime I plan to laugh, love, travel, eat all the delicious food from around the world and not to judge people too quickly.

Trapeze Coat - Asos (£54 in the sale!)  | Necklace - Accesorize (Similar) | Boots - Very Similar (£10 in the sale!) | Jumper - New Look (£5 in the sale!) | Bag - Vintage | Jeans - Primark but very similar here for £10.

Sending you all the love and good vibes.

Until next time,

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