It was fun returning to Motovun yesterday afternoon. The house stank to high heaven. There was no electricity. It took a while to get it back up. There was quite a bit of rotten meat in the icebox. Stinky water was everywhere. It took a few hours to clean up the mess. On top of everything, the Internet connection was dead. My two computers were fine, but the link to the World Wide Web could not be restored after all the usual tricks. I had to call the phone company, and I expect that someone will replace one of the boxes in my study sometime today. As it turns out, there were two ferocious storms earlier this week. Lightning repeatedly struck Borgo, which is rather unusual, and many people on my street had trouble with their electronic devices. There is no telling when my house was affected, but it is likely that the electricity went off during the first storm, which was some six days ago. The stench of the meat in the icebox suggested that it had rotted for quite a while. Welcome to Motovun, again and again!

Addendum (July 12, 2009)

A couple of phone company people came by my house soon enough. They quickly established that the surge protector I bought in Pazin a few years ago saved the box through which I get my Internet service. One of them checked the whole thing on one of my computers, and everything appeared to be perfectly fine. The World Wide Web seemed to be mine once again. When they left, I tried my electronic mail, but I could not get the connection on the older of my two computers, which I had used mainly for this purpose. In the end, I called the phone company one more time. The fellow on the other side of the line tried many things with my settings, but without any success. “Try Google,” he suggested in the end. And so I called Saša Benčić, my savior when it comes to things electronic. I could not get him after many a call, though. The following day his father gave me his new number. As always, Saša was a real pro. “Your network card has been fried,” he reported after a minute or two. After some fiddling, he managed to set up my electronic mail on the newer of the two computers. “There are many people in town whose network card has suffered in the same way,” he reported. “I have no idea how this could happen, but the lightning struck through the phone line.” Not understanding much of what he was telling me, I kept nodding. “If I were you,” he said at last, “I would get together with all the others and sue the phone company.” According to him, something must be wrong with the switching gear in Motovun, and it will not be long before the same thing happens again. Relieved to be connected to the world once more, I kept shaking his hand. Saša is a gift to this town. The phone company be damned.