Heating oil is special in Motovun. Expensive as it is, it is quite difficult to obtain. Many of those who live in the old town receive it by tractor only. A cistern comes to the cemetery under one of the two main streets, and a ton of it is then shipped in a large plastic container mounted on a tractor trailer. A few, like me, are lucky to have found a cistern sufficiently small to come close enough to the house for delivery. But its timing is yet another matter. It has to be organized well in advance, but one can never be sure when it will actually take place. My next-door neighbor and I have organized delivery of heating oil a week ago. At first it was supposed to take place two days ago, but then it was cancelled by the cistern driver and agreed for today. He was supposed to be in town between nine and ten o’clock this morning. But it is past ten already. And he is not responding to our many calls. The way things look right now, it is quite possible that we will have to wait a few days longer. As I said, heating oil is special in Motovun. No matter how expensive it gets, and a ton of it at the moment costs as much as someone rather well paid in Croatia earns in a month, it is nigh impossible to obtain.