Each time I come to Zagreb, I jot down my arrival and departure dates. I just went through the bulging list of this year’s visits, which I keep in a kitchen drawer in my beloved’s apartment. To my surprise, this year I have already spent two months out of nine in the Croatian capital. So far, I can boast of six visits of about ten days each. By the end of the year, there will most likely be at least three more visits of similar duration, which will stretch the amount of time spent in Zagreb to a minimum of three months. A quarter of a year, that is. Wow! Motovun, eat your heart out!

Addendum I (November 29, 2009)

Having just arrived in Zagreb for my last visit this year, I checked the kitchen-drawer list with my arrival and departure dates once again. In nine visits, I will have spent one-hundred and eleven days in the Croatian capital. Which amounts to thirty percent of the entire year. The way things are shaping at present, it is almost certain that this percentage will only grow from year to year. Chances are that Zagreb will eventually win over Motovun. When is this momentous event likely to take place? In three or four years, I would guess. Go, Zagreb, go!

Addendum II (March 18, 2010)

As I am packing for my return to Motovun after a long winter in Zagreb, I am comparing the residence statistics once again. Out of the total of one-hundred and eleven days last year, the first three months I had spent exactly thirty days in Zagreb. The first three months this year I have already spent seventy-one day in the Croatian capital. So far, the remainder I spent in Motovun only because of my court hearings. And now I am returning to Istria mainly because of my garden. It is high time to remove the weeds, turn the soil, and plant a few good things. Anyhow, if I keep returning to Zagreb at the same rate as last year for the remainder of this year, I will spend in the city of my birth about one-hundred and forty days out of three-hundred and sixty-five. Poor Motovun!

Addendum III (December 5, 2010)

There are nearly three weeks till the end of my twelfth and last visit to Zagreb this year, but the count is clear already: I will have spent one-hundred and eighty-one day in the Croatian capital. That amounts to exactly fifty percent of the year. All this is just as I expected it to be. Next year I will spend about a half of my time away from Motovun, as well. How about the future, though? It is hard to tell at this point, but the hilltown still beckons when the weather is nice and there are people around. Not counting the locals, of course. Chances are the fifty-percent mark is here to stay.