Can Hard Brexit waterfall be made navigable with 5 sets of locks?

By George ILIEV
Brexit Metaphor No 27

Hard Brexit is as abrupt as the Victoria Falls on the Zambezi river. Britain's negotiations with the EU and Theresa May's Brexit Agreement this week are trying to make the Brexit falls navigable by building a series of navigation locks for businesses and people to continue sailing smoothly. These five locks are:

Lock 1: Two years for negotiation since triggering Article 50 in March 2017.
Lock 2: Transition period agreed for March 2019 to Dec 2020, during which nothing changes in practice.
Locks 3 and 4: Option for extending the Transition period or Backstop Option which maintains a UK-wide Customs Union with the EU to avoid a physical border in Ireland.
Lock 5: Future Free Trade Area (FTA) between the UK and the EU, to be negotiated after March 2019.

Provided these sets of locks survive the coming political turmoil in Britain, there is one question that remains unanswered:

Is the British ship on the Zambezi heading:
A) downstream towards the Indian Ocean?
OR
B) upstream towards the Kalahari Desert?

Theresa May in Parliament, Nov 15, 2018

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Notes:
1. Timeline: This article is part of a daily #BrexitMetaphors series, with 134 more Brexit Metaphors to follow until Brexit day, March 29, 2019.
2. Disclosure: The author has a master's degree in European Integration.
3. Invitation: If you'd like to contribute to the debate, you are welcome to leave a comment below.