The people have spoken and it's a decision that will impact on not just our lives but our children's and their children's lives.
The signs of serious discontent were all there, I just don't think anyone wanted to face up to them. Even the bookies failed to predict what way the EU referendum would go.
How could they, Nigel Farage didn't even predict it. I think most people went to bed last Thursday night after the UKIP leader prematurely conceded and woke up to a bombshell.
I was one of those who stayed up and watched at first with disbelief and then the tragic realisation that the lacklustre stay campaign, based on complacency, had fallen to the much more emotionally stirring 'give us our country back' Brexiters.
While Scotland and Northern Ireland voted remain, even they were closer than expected.
David Cameron, who dreamt up the idea of a referendum, promptly resigned leaving others to clean up his mess.
And what a mess, Britain is now persona non grata with its European neighbours and not just because of their football fans.
When the prime minister resigning is the third story down on the news list you know you're reporting on an historic day.
Re-negotiating a better trade deal was laughed at by the other member states and talk of a slow exit by the UK also dismissed by the EU who want rid of them at the first possible opportunity.
To dispel the myth that Europe needs the UK more than they need the Europe, I suggest you watch Tuesday's European parliament debate Brexit, and I suggest you do it with a large glass of something to dull the pain.
Germany's Martin Schulz told Britain: "A continent should not have to wait until the Conservative Party has solved its internal problems".
The response from the other member states was take what's left of your country back, hurry up about it and shut the door on the way out.
With the Labour Party in meltdown the future looks bleak.
The leave camp appears to have had no real strategic economic plan, nor were the finer details like having to spend years rewriting legislation just to fill the holes left when the UK leaves Europe properly considered.
They've admitted that financial promises made prior to the vote were not accurate and that we are now in a period of uncharted, economic uncertainty.
In England the number of racist attacks reported to police have apparently soared since last Friday's result.
The language used by those who have managed to convince poor white people that poor foreign people are responsible for the problems caused by rich white people, has been likened to the 1930s.
It's a terrifying trend but one that needs addressed at root level rather than continually brushed under the carpet.
Decreased public spending by a Conservative government wedded to austerity means working class areas with rising populations of migrant workers have suffered more than anyone was prepared to face up to.
People who voted out because they can't get a doctor's appointment or a council house, were led to believe that Europe was to blame and not a government more interested in big business than working class people.
Following last week's vote any attempt to voice concern at what residents see as very real fears cannot be simply dismissed as racism. It was this policy that allowed people like Farage and Boris Johnson to thrive on a terrified and insecure working class.
While we've seen the worst of politics we've also seen the best and Nicola Sturgeon has shown strong leadership and repeatedly said the needs and wishes of the Scottish people come first. Here in Northern Ireland we need equally strong and decisive leadership.
Arlene Foster needs to show she's not just a Westminster puppet and start representing the people who voted in Northern Ireland and not those living in Doncaster.
Likewise with the possibility of a border poll now dismissed, Sinn Féin and the SDLP along with the UUP and Alliance, who all campaigned for remain, need to work on getting the best deal for Northern Ireland.
It's been a bleak and turbulent political week and it's time for those who put their names forward to ensure that in five years time the country Britain wanted back so badly does not end up a Utopia for the super wealthy and a racially intolerant, economic wasteland for the rest of us.
