The last time I had my heating-oil tank refilled was in late May. The fellow who delivered the oil told me that this might be the last time I saw him. Made in 1967, his tiny Fiat cistern, which held exactly as much oil as my tank, was unlikely to pass another technical test. It was due in October, he told me. And there was no other cistern in Istria that could come down Borgo. His fifty or sixty customers across Istria, six of whom lived on Borgo, would be left stranded. I could not believe my ears, but he just shrugged his shoulders. I was lucky to have the oil then and there. “Good luck,” he said quietly after I paid him. As it turned out, his cistern did not pass the technical test. By late December or early January I will have used about a half of the oil in my tank. The winter is expected to be rather cold, and I will soon need to think about refilling the tank. The oil I now have is not likely to last till the end of March, and I will need heating through most of May. The simplest solution is to hire a tractor and haul the oil from someplace in Motovun where a larger cistern can park. It would take a few tractor rides to fill my tank. This would be a bit of a hassle, no doubt. And it would have to be repeated a couple of times a year. But I am not bothered all that much. As a matter of fact, I feel kind of happy about the whole thing. After a few more years in Motovun, I will be able to survive almost anything. Perhaps even the end of the world.