JUST three weeks after Brexit, they are missing us already in Brussels.

David McAllister, the German politician of Scottish heritage, bemoaned how with much fewer native English speakers in the European Parliament debates have become, well, a lot duller.

While the lingua franca of the EU is still English, it seems the command of it by the likes of the Irish, the Maltese and others isn’t quite up to the same standard as the Brits “when it comes to humour, irony, sarcasm, using proverbs or other style elements,” noted the MEP. Style elements; Brussels-speak for a bit of Anglo Saxon.

But, of course, it could be said that some on this side of the Channel are missing Brussels already; not least the frustrated hauliers trying to ship goods to and from the continent and facing a welter of bureaucracy.

During her days in Downing St Theresa May would often point to a “smooth and orderly” transition to life outwith the EU and, indeed, the UK agreed with Brussels to have a near yearlong transition period, so that a Brexit cliff-edge could be avoided.

But as some are finding out the process of acquiring independence from the bloc has, according to Boris Johnson - with a deal of understatement - resulted in some “teething problems”.

On Monday, Whitehall was choc-a-bloc with lorries driven by irate Scottish seafood hauliers and bearing slogans like “Brexit carnage”.

A “sympathetic” PM swiftly zipped open the Treasury wallet and promised an extra £23m aid package to placate the teeth-gnashing fishermen, who had lost tens of thousands of pounds because of the form-filling.

Unpleasant headlines followed of pig heads rotting in trucks in Rotterdam because Dutch authorities had demanded they were tested for disease and meat hauliers were confronted with “eye-watering” levels of post-Brexit form-filling.

But it didn’t stop there. The latest sector to complain of debilitating post-Brexit bureaucracy were the likes of Sir Elton John, Ed Sheeran and, of course, the SNP’s very own musical maestro Pete Wishart.

The Perth MP took UK ministers to task over how the need for visas would prevent musicians experiencing his Runrig glory days of touring the continent in a Transit van. Performers, he complained, had become “collateral” damage in what was branded the Conservatives’ “Brexit zealotry”.

On Tuesday, another post-Brexit morsel was offered up when Kwasi Kwarteng, the new Business Secretary, was forced to deny the Government was preparing a “bonfire” of labour rights. Nothing could be further from the truth, declared the Business Secretary, who insisted the Government was intent on “safeguarding” them.

The sharpest post-Brexit impact has been felt in Northern Ireland, which, under the UK-EU trade deal, is still in the single market for goods and keeping EU customs rules at its ports.

Already, problems have arisen in deliveries with some supermarket shelves being empty of certain goods. Hauliers claimed, far from taking 30 seconds as promised, new customs declarations were taking 12 hours.

Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, argued empty shelves had “nothing to do” with Brexit but were down to the effects of the pandemic on supply lines while Mr Johnson insisted transit traffic between Larne and Stranraer was up “because it is going so smoothly”.

But the DUP’s Ian Paisley claimed the Northern Ireland Protocol had been an “unmitigated disaster” with some haulage companies “haemorrhaging” £100,000 a week and laying off staff.

Another transition or “grace period” has been introduced in Northern Ireland to sort out the problem but calls are being made for this to be extended. Sound familiar?

Edwin Poots, Stormont’s Agriculture Minister, grimly warned Ulster’s Sunday dinners may never be the same again as processed foods like gravy, jelly and trifle could be off the menu once the grace period ends at the end of March.

Urgent talks between Belfast, Brussels and London to save the traditional Sunday dinner are taking place to extend the transition. Deadlines have never quite worked in Northern Ireland.

Mr Lewis insisted Northern Ireland, as it marks its 100th anniversary this year, was in an enviable position of having a “unique opportunity”; being an integral part of the UK customs union but also part of the EU single market had given it a “competitive advantage”.

Which, of course, some might suggest makes a good argument for the whole of the UK to have such a competitive advantage and, er, be in the EU.

As the red mist over red tape got thicker, Joao Vale de Almeida, the EU’s new ambassador to the post-Brexit UK, helpfully pointed out that “decisions have consequences,” noting how Britain had opted for a hard exit.

By sheer coincidence, two days later, a row erupted over how the UK Government had decided not to grant Mr Almeida full diplomatic status like other ambassadors because he represented an organisation not a country. The decision was branded “petty”.

As Mr Johnson was warned Scotland’s entire fishing industry now faced being “destroyed” over the farrago of red tape he brushed aside the gloomsters and the doomsters and cheerfully pointed to a post-Brexit “El Dorado”.

But, of course, as Sir Walter Raleigh unhappily found out in the 16th century, the city bathed in gold does not exist.