Thus the browser on the desktop computer in my study early this afternoon. “Firefox is having trouble recovering your windows and tabs,” it explains apologetically before recommending a restart. Of course, the problem has nothing whatsoever to do with the browser. It is regularly caused by outages in power supply. Ever since my move to Motovun more than a decade ago, this happens at least once a week. This sort of thing is almost pardonable in the case of inclement weather, but outages happen for myriad other reasons. Most of these reasons have to do with the power supply in Istria, which is simply atrocious. Would that the company that provides power to Motovun ever came up with any sort of apology for problems caused by its employees’ colossal incompetence. And the company could learn a great deal from Firefox. “Well,” they should start, “this is embarrassing!” Forget it, though. Istrians are not about apologies.

Addendum I (June 1, 2014)

Once a week? Nowadays, power outages happen once a day in Istria. But my browser keeps apologizing in earnest. Embarrassing, indeed. Which only makes me so much angrier with the company that supposedly provides electrical power in Istria. Apologize, assholes! And apologize every single day! Prostrate yourself in front of your humble customers every single time there is an outage! Only kidding, of course. As I said, Istrians are not about apologies.

Addendum II (June 9, 2014)

There were two power outages today. The first one lasted only a few seconds, but long enough to screw up all the electronic systems around the house, and the second one lasted about three hours. It started just before seven o’clock in the evening, and it ended well past ten. As far as all the electronic systems were concerned, it was complete and total mayhem. God only knows what happened, for the weather was pretty close to perfect. At any rate, I went around the hilltown in fervent support of New Tuscany. Electricity is for the birds, I kept repeating. Istria does not need it, anyway. Enjoy life without the radio and television, I went on and on with gusto. New Tuscany is the place to be! I only wonder whether the message will have a chance against all the power outages that visit the blessed peninsula.

Addendum III (June 13, 2014)

Well, there were three power outages yesterday. All of them were short, but I keep restarting my computer over and over again. This morning I did it one more time. “Well,” Firefox keeps apologizing, “this is embarrassing!” But I wonder how come no-one in the Istrian power company is embarrassed by so many outages. Actually, how come the company is still afloat? This is a baffling peninsula, to be sure, but the power embarrassment is too much to bear. It is becoming emblematic of incompetence and stupidity that reign in these parts.