It is odd to find myself in the Croatian capital after a bit less than a month. Although everything is perfectly familiar, it still strikes me as utterly strange. It is the people that are the hardest to take. For all their faults, people of Motovun are my own by now. Friends and foes alike, I know them inside and out. With the exception of waiters, people of Zagreb are a nameless mob. Dressed to kill, most of them are quite annoying to see even in passing, let alone to communicate with on occasion. And so I find myself sticking to my beloved’s apartment. While she is in her office, it is a refuge I know well. The refuge, no less. I can hear the cars, buses, and trucks on the street, but only just. The rest of the city of my birth is but a blur. As if to help me in my flight, the weather is most uninviting. It has been murky and wet since the morning. To add insult to injury, the only reason to leave the apartment is an appointment with my dentist in about an hour. It is nothing but regular checkup and cleaning, but it still makes my discomfort so much more palpable. Alas, not even my refuge is unassailable!