About twelve years ago in Reading I bought a desk lamp for my mother. She kept it on a low table by her bed and used it for reading before she went to sleep. I inherited the lamp from her when she died and brought it to Motovun six years ago. It ended up by the low table on which I keep my two computers. The neon lamp in it died a few days ago. It started blinking like crazy, and then it went off. I pulled it out of its socket, and I brought it to Zagreb on a vague hope that I would be able to find its replacement in a well-stocked electric store. I have never seen such a lamp, though. The first day in the Croatian capital I walked into a small store with all sorts of electric gadgets I know in the center and pulled the lamp out of my knapsack: “Would you perhaps have something like this?” Expecting a long stare followed by the shaking of the head, I was stunned by the ready answer: “Of course! How many?” My head reeling, I answered without thinking: “Two, please!” A moment later I held two green boxes. Sylvania. Long life. Made in the United Kingdom, of all places. Confused out of my mind, I paid without a word, stuffed the boxes into my knapsack, and walked out of the store. God only knows where I will find such a neon lamp in twenty-four years…