This morning I learned from my lawyer that I must pay nearly thirty-thousand Croatian kuna to the mayor of Motovun for the cockroach insult even though we are about to lodge a complaint to the highest court in the country against decisions of two lower courts. For some reason, the news quite stunned me. We are talking about close to four-thousand euros, which I will get back when I win the case either in Zagreb or in Strasbourg. This sort of money is not something I can pull out of my pocket at a moment’s notice, though. At first I panicked a bit. I also got cross with my lawyer, who did not tell me about the payment ahead of time. More often than not, he assumes I understand the law and court practice almost as well as he does. Anyhow, I simmered down quickly enough. Perhaps I can pay the fine in several installments. Looking forward, it will be a joy getting all this money back from the mayor. The best way to think about the whole thing is that it is a savings plan of sorts. Minus interest, of course.