The first thing I ever voted in was not a general election, not a state election, not a council election but a referendum on Britain's place in Europe.

I had turned 18 in January of 1975 and was delighted to get the chance to exercise my rights as a citizen at the ballot box. I might not have been a taxpayer -I was still at my North London grammar school doing my A-Levels - but it was an exciting time to contemplate our country immersing itself in a European future.

I was young, naive, optimistic and idealistic. It was a vote to join the EEC, the European Economic Community, essentially a trading bloc made up of the great economies of the continent.

I fondly imagined a future of mutual trade and economic togetherness, a sort of United States of Europe without a common currency or language but bringing a similar dynamic of co-operation and prosperity.

I left in November 1987 to come to Australia, so cannot claim to have been a first-hand beneficiary or victim of the triumphs and failures of the European project for the last 29 years. Yes, I have an EU passport, which made travel easier, but that was about the extent of my engagement - until the past fortnight, when I returned to London for a break and became immersed, once again, in the debate over the great European project.

Of course this time we were not debating the EEC - a simple question focusing on access to markets alone.

This time it was a debate over the concept of the EU - a vast, pan European government, a superstructure imposed (according to one argument) or working alongside (according to the other) national governments - and whether Britain needed to be yoked to its sclerotic centralism (the Brexit position) or would be better served remaining within this giant organisation which had delivered European peace and security for 68 years and work to reform it from within.

Remain had been hot favourite ever since David Cameron announced a referendum in the lead-up to the general election. It was a political tactic to head off the British Eurosceptics who were fanning an internal war within the Tory party. The leadership, Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne, were confident that "common sense" would prevail.

They did not anticipate the backlash that has been brewing through the body politic, not just in the UK but throughout the western democracies these past few years, an excoriating contempt for political elites who are increasingly seen as living in a bubble disconnected from the reality of working people.

Strolling around London, sometimes centrally, sometimes in the north and western suburbs, I had picked up on the rhythms and the nuances of the debate these past two weeks. Support for Remain was strong in London, and amongst the young, but there were growing pockets of resentment and revolt on the outer fringes, in the north and the midlands of the country.

But still, when Friday morning broke - to sunshine after heavy rain and storms had marked the lead up to polling day and the vote itself - there was a sense of stunned shock and unreality.

I had voted for "in" all those years ago. This time I didn't get a vote, as I have lived outside Britain for more than 15 years, so I could watch with journalistic detachment.

Many times I had asked myself what would I do? I didn't like the ceding of sovereignty to a parliament and executive in Brussels, I didn't agree with untrammelled immigration flows, and I certainly didn't think that a one size fits all European government could possibly administer a continent of such cultural and linguistic diversity with such great economic differences.

But I also enjoyed the peace dividend, supported the notion of European co-operation, believed in access to a large trading bloc and the political and negotiating clout that such a grouping brought.

It was, quite simply, the most extraordinary turn of political events in my life. I went to bed at 11pm on Thursday night with even UKIP supremo Nigel Farage appearing to concede that Remain had won. I got up on Friday morning to find that Leave had triumphed up by over a million votes and Britain would now negotiate to exit the EU.

It's a huge insurgency by the public; a massive bloody nose for the media, the metropolitans and the political elite.

It has cost the Prime Minister, David Cameron, his job and his legacy. Cameron will forever be known as the Prime Minister who led Britain out of Europe - and in all probability the man whose EU referendum defeat presaged the breakup of the UK, as Scotland is now likely to demand another separatist referendum of its own, with EU membership being the decisive issue.

Three quarters of MPs wanted to remain. Big business, the banks, financiers, "the establishment" as a whole, London all wanted to stay in.

Cameron's failure to win any real concessions in his "renegotiation" earlier this year was a massive blow.

It convinced many waverers that no matter how much Britain could argue for rational change from within there was very little likelihood - given that it had to convince 27 other countries - that it could get reform.

The Labour party didn't help the Remain campaign.

Jeremy Corbyn, its left-wing leader, was clearly an outer and lukewarm about staying in. He has paid the price with Labour MPs on Friday passing a no-confidence motion in their party boss.

Many big cities in the midlands and the north, with strong Labour support, didn't deliver the votes for Remain they were expected to.

Scotland was heavily in favour of Remain, but was too small to counterbalance the English rejection. Northern Ireland, also pro-EU, is now left hanging like a shag on a rock, an EU redoubt in a sea of Euroscepticism

This is now a very divided country: there is a gulf between the young and the old (the former largely in favour of Remain), the north and the south, Scotland and Northern Ireland against England and Wales, and London (very much in the Remain camp) against the rest of England.

I suspect this is a visceral reaction, a thrashing blow of frustration and anger against accumulated grievances, not all of which can be sheeted back to the EU.

People seem to be angry at globalisation, job losses, the running down of services and, especially, immigration.

There seem to be clear parallels with the insurgent anti-politics support for Donald Trump in the US, an anti-politics that is rising throughout the western world with the failure of the Left to tap into the grievances of the excluded underclass and its traditional working constituency, leaving them open to the siren call of separation offered by the right.

There was a desire in the UK to prevent millions of immigrants coming from the EU, which places a strain on services and, for tradesmen and others in the service sector, depresses wages.

There was also fear that remaining in the EU would leave porous borders open to a flood of refugees and potential terrorists pouring into Europe after Angela Merkel's open doors declaration last year.

There was also anger and resentment that anyone who questioned immigration or any of the core policies of the EU was somehow a racist or a bigot: given the chance to smash their political masters, the public took it, if only narrowly.

Certainly walking around London suburbs for the past fortnight and talking to people there was a surprising amount of support for Leave including from many middle aged immigrants.

There was a huge turnout, far higher than a general election.

For the second time in a row the bookmakers, usually so accurate in political markets, got it wrong.

The pound has already started tanking, but that was factored in and widely expected. Eventually it will find its right level.

Logical or illogical? Smart or stupid? Bigoted or brave? Time will tell.

The sun will continue to rise. Britain will still be a cold, damp, wet and windy island. The Premier League will doubtless still be the biggest sporting show in town.

But things will never be the same from now on.

*Michael Lynch is a senior sports writer at The Age and the SMH. He grew up in London and covered politics and industrial relations in the UK before moving to Australia in the late 1980s.