"one thing is certain - in the wake of DR's unequivocal exit, access to the single market is firmly up the sprout, I mean spout, and with it goes.." "You don't mean..." shuddered GoNz0, a horrible suspicion creeping upon him - "I do mean," SammyC said, "with it goes access to the Classifieds even for fully-signed up members with 100 valid, interesting and/or intelligent posts."
A gloom settled over the remaining partygoers as they contemplated having to make independent trade deals in future for that all-important cably bit for their build or to get shot of their unwanted xmas techy gifts. That would mean actually talking to members in real life.. maybe going to their homes.. possibly even crossing borders into dangerously uncivilised backwaters. It was too horrible to contemplate. Eschatology, indeed.
In a feeble attempt to lift the general mood, Andehh opened the box he'd randomly picked out, as it was starting to weigh heavily. "Whoopee-doo, it's a 1990s desktop," he said. "Tower", corrected someone. "Desktop," insisted a pedantic git. "Workstation?", tried cheesemp. "Oh, never mind", said SammyC irritably, "let's just hook it up, see what programs are on it, and spend the evening complaining about them - it is Christmas, after all."
"Pass the Qualys-y Street, then" said someone, "I'll have a yellow triangle".
And so the evening wore on, until one by one the hexites drifted away to their respective Locations, leaving only the Hexus kitteh c-cleaning the remaining gravy from the platters, and 2 die-hard parteh people* still knocking back the port & practising for Strictly.