Britain’s membership of the EU has defined the contours of my life. In 1974, I dropped out of university in England and ran away to Paris. Because the United Kingdom had just joined the European Economic Community (as it was then), I was able to obtain a precious Carte de séjour and a Carte de sécurité sociale, which allowed me to live and work in Paris. I did all sorts of odd — and I mean odd — jobs. My first was as a telephone operator on the Gare d’Austerlitz train information line. There were lots of us in a very big, open room, using antiquated headsets, and it was hard to hear what the caller was saying. My geography of France was rudimentary. When asked the times of the trains to Port Bou, on the Spanish border, I understood “Bordeaux.” Read on.