IT was only a month ago, but it feels like it was a different age, when everyone was positively prehistoric – no one had heard of Pokemon Go, and no one was really expecting Britain to go.

Certainly, the polls, the politicians and the markets weren’t, and so there was a discernible tremor of unease when, at 12.01am, Newcastle voted Remain by a flake of a percentage point. Then, at 12.18, Sunderland voted Leave by a yawning chasm – 61 per cent to 39 per cent – there was an economic earthquake. The city, which is the home of pro-EU Nissan, was expected to vote out by about six percentage points, but the whopping 22 point margin instantly wiped four per cent off the value of the pound, its biggest plunge for a decade.

It set the tone, and changed our world.

Back then on referendum day, Britain was cloudy and grey, suffering the wettest June for decades; a month on, the sun is out and the July temperature is soaring.

Back then, Britain was a member of a community of 27 European states, of the biggest single market in the world with goods – and people – flowing freely across the borders. By daybreak, Britain was out, and now, a month on, we are going it alone.

Back then, David Cameron was Prime Minister with George Osborne by his side, pressing on with his draconian cuts and issuing dire warnings of recession if we voted to leave. Now, Theresa May is in No 10, the cuts programme has been delayed, and her Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has praised the resilience of the British economy which has sailed almost serenely on.

Back then, England were in the last 16 of the European Championships and had been drawn against a country only three times bigger than the borough of Darlington. But just as Mrs May replaced Mr Cameron, who instantly fell on his sword after Britain’s shock exit from the EU, so Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce is to replace Roy Hodgson, who instantly resigned after Britain’s shock exit from the Euros at the hands of Iceland.

Like a tornado, the referendum ripped through the political establishment, randomly destroying some careers but leaving others strangely untouched. Take Michael Gove – back then, he was at the height of his powers, striding importantly across our TV screens, pulling the strings of the Leave campaign. So mighty was he that he launched a personal bid to become Prime Minister. Now, though, he is nothing, not even a junior minister, just a backbencher – despite winning the referendum.

By contrast, Boris Johnson propelled Leave to success with the force of his personality only to be cruelly cut down by Mr Gove. But just when his future appeared to be on television, he unexpectedly emerged as Foreign Secretary – the face that Britain presents to the world.

It really has been a topsy-turvy month but some things have stayed the same. Drake, for example, is still number one in the pop charts, and Labour is still in disarray. The referendum revealed the depths of Labour’s disarray, opening them up for all to see. Those divisions will now get deeper as the leadership election – in stark contrast to the Tories and even in the FA – drags on until September 24, and perhaps become permanent if Jeremy Corbyn clings to the crown.

The referendum also revealed the divisions beneath the surface of Britain, a country that leaders like Mr Cameron believed was happily multicultural and which, having ridden out a recession through deep cuts in public expenditure, was once more pleasantly prosperous. The result showed that the country was actually riddled with divides, between young and old, town and country, north and south, Scottish and English, in-comers and natives, and particularly between the haves and the have-nots.

Much has been written about Hartlepool because it was one of the stand-out results, with 70 per cent voting Leave, and most conclusions suggest it was primarily because the townspeople feel they have not got anything much from anyone: not from the Labour council, the Conservative government, the City of London or the superstate of Europe. With everything from their town centre to their hospital seemingly in decline, they voted against the status quo and for some sort of change – without really knowing what that change might entail.

Hartlepool, of course, has form for such anti-establishment votes – in 2002 the monkey was elected mayor – but, this time, the have-not feeling was shared across the region.

And, this time, is anyone listening? Do the Conservatives have the will to make their elusive Northern Powerhouse bridge the economic divide, or can Labour, under whichever leader it chooses, convince that it has a plan to make social communities strong again? Or will Ukip continue to pick up support as the “none-of-the-above” alternative?

But for all the unpredictable change of the last month, the economy hasn’t collapsed. It is, though, sending out contradictory messages: the FTSE100 – the value of our top businesses – is at an 11-month high but the pound – the value of our country – is ten per cent down, as holidaymakers are finding out.

Mrs May keeps repeating that “Brexit means Brexit”, but she doesn’t know when it will begin nor what it will look like, whether we’ll be in the single market or whether we’ll close our borders to the world.

Britain made a profound decision a month ago that provoked unprecedented change, but our journey into the unknown has just begun.