Every two years I get two debit cards from two branches of Lloyds Bank—one in Reading, the other in Jersey on the Channel Islands. My British pensions go to Reading, and my American pensions go to Jersey. Now, the new Jersey card arrived just as the old one expired at the end of June, but the Reading card, which expired at the same time, has not yet appeared in spite of my many letters to the branch manager. And so I called Reading today. To my bewilderment, they cannot send me the card. The fact that I have gotten the Jersey card apparently has to do with the nature of my account—it is an international one. My Reading account is not. When I insisted to be told why I could not get the Reading card, I was told that Croatia had been listed as an unreliable country. As I did get my Reading card two years ago, this must have happened in the intervening period. Now I tell everyone I meet in Motovun that we live in a country that is not reliable. As if they do not know it already.

Addendum (November 5, 2015)

Back then, I got my card with the help of my friends in Reading. They had to go to the bank with an introduction letter of mine in hand, and then they could send me the card by regular post. Eight years later, though, the misery has returned. This time around, I was told that my card could not be sent to me because Croatia was under embargo (“An Embargo Country,” September 1, 2015). I could not believe my ears, but all my complaints have been unsuccessful to this day. What is more, the bank would not give my card to a friend of mine any longer. The fact that I am a British citizen and that Croatia is a member of the European Union makes no difference in this case. I even wrote to the chairman and the chief executive officer of Lloyds Bank, but to no avail. By way of a reply, a complaints officer working for the bank advised me to take my case to the Financial Ombudsman Service in Britain, which I promptly did. Now I am waiting to hear from them, but it is clear that Croatia is a thorn in Lloyds Bank’s side. If I am successful this time around, and I get my card at long last, there is no telling what will happen so many years later. Croatia is a pariah country, and that is that.