Doing the splits

Both K.M. and L. really, really want to do the splits. They practice in the kitchen , in their bedrooms and in the lounge but are still quite a few centimetres off the floor. To be a proper ballerina, they reason, you need to be able to perform this extreme physical stretch and they talk with wonder and awe about the girls in their class who can “do the splits”. Perhaps eventually they’ll get there.
But talking of splits I’ve been wondering recently whether my Middle is about to, err, split down the middle? I’m ashamed to say that I don’t really follow the nation’s press very much. I hear tit bits of news on Radio Contact (60’s at six, 70’s at seven, 80’s at eight). I’m not really sure if Radio Contact’s two minute news reports are the best source of learned understanding on this country's future direction. When prompted, G informs me of what is going on. A bit like his fellow citizens, though, he has a glazed, slightly bored look on his face whenever the topic comes up.
Strange. I was always under the impression that when countries split it was a rather seismic event. A big deal you know. Wow! Two new stars in the constellation kinda stuff. Big explosions all round. Well, even if this were about to happen we haven’t felt much of an impact here. Life is just going along tickety-boo thank you very much. School begins at 8.25 prompt (although this always confounds us and we are always there, on the dot, at 8.30); K.M. and L. are still turning up for their ballet classes, J. did a three hour karate training session the other side of Antwerp on Saturday, Belle had her last vaccination yesterday and it was discovered that she has mites (yuk) in her ears though not fleas; R. began kindergarten and is really enjoying it although he is exhausted at the end of the day; G. still greets visiting professors for the Master programme; and I just go on writing my summaries.
Everywhere in this town heavy duty road/building/renewal work is going on: - two major renovation projects on the MTS; streets being dug open everywhere to lay cables; renovation of old buildings in the shopping district; the building of the new town hall next to the train station; Christmas decorations going up; and the seasonal stable that houses Mary, Joseph, sheppards, a donkey, a goat and some sheep is being set up on a square opposite the medieval town hall.
No traumatic signs of a big rupture here then - and we are only 23 km from any possible epicentre and a skip and a hop away from the linguistic divide that so divides the Middle. Thank goodness. When you think of other parts of the world where communities have fought a central State that they do not identify with the consequences have been a lot more serious, devastating and lethal.
This brings me to a question which I have been pondering quite a bit recently. As an individual , to whom in the community do you most identify with (other than family):
Those who share the same language?
Those who share the same belief structure?
Those who are from the same “tribe”.
Those who are from a nation state formed 150 years ago by a bunch of aristo’s and bourgeoisie?
I accept that the latter point is quite contentious but in many cases relevant. Those living north of the Middle feel as though they have a very distinct identity that ticks the first three boxes but certainly not the latter. An identity that is very different from those living to the south of the Middle. Why, ask those dwelling in the north, should we swear allegiance to something that we simply do not identify with?
The northerners share the same language and they share broadly similar values. If one were to be anthropolological about it all one could also argue they are, by and large, part of the same “tribe”. More recently this tribe has, economically speaking, been rather successful too. The northern tribe comes out top in education tests; it invests the highest percentage of its GDP on R&D in Europe; and it has one of the richest economies in the world. None of these achievements are recognised beyond the borders of the Middle. Their achievements are diluted by the whole. They have no occasion to break free in a country which has been dubbed by their Prime Minister in waiting “an accident of history”.
In many ways he is not wrong. Those who created the Middle saw no reason to give a vote to the masses on whether they would or would not like to create the nation under the terms on offer at the time. It was just done. The "revolutionaries" who bought about the creation of the State even went shopping for a new King to give it some glamour, credibility and respectability, but who incidentally did not speak the language of the majority. A trifling matter 150 years ago to the country's founders. A matter of much irritation today.
Times have changed. Geographically speaking the Middle is wedged snugly in the heart of the EU and to be a member you have to adhere to democracy and the rule of law. The people are now given a say and the majority have spoken. They want to move away from an edifice to which they do not and never have identified with. They want to go it alone and feel that they are perfectly capable and mature enough to do so.
In the mean time as long as the politicians are talking I feel very happy. As Churchill so famously said and, which the politicians, both north and south, of this country are taking up with great spirit and zeal: to jaw jaw is better than to war war….but jeez those jaws must be aching by now. They’ve been talking since June. In any case many here feel more like “yawn yawn” because as I told you things are still going along just ticketieboo with or without a central government being formed.
I wonder whether my daughters will ever manage to do the splits. I wonder if the Middle with ever do the splits.