April 5, 2020 – Memories of past pleasures and dreams of fun in a post-corona world are two of the mental tools in our battle for sanity in this current isolated madness. A top tip to ensure a slightly more amazing future for you all.
Whatever the personal difficulties I and everyone else are currently undergoing, one thing I will say is that this is the most challenging period of my writing ‘career’. There are several reasons for this.
This is a time of high stress for everyone, and I am acutely aware of the number of people relying on TCN to give them the latest, accurate news, where one loosely applied word can inflame emotions. It wasn’t quite like this when I started a happy tourism blog on Hvar all those years ago.
Those sensitivities extend to the authorities here, who seem to be also taking an interest in TCN, even to the extent of ordering me to unpublish an article and tell me I will be fined for fake news. My instincts were to resist such a move in the name of press freedom, but I decided to comply so as not to inflame tensions at this tense time. It was then somewhat (not sure if this is the right word) amusing to see my story published three days later by several Croatian portals. It remains live today, whereas mine does not. One rule for the locals, one rule for the fat Irishman, I guess.
Apart from the psychological effect of reporting 18 hours a day on such a depressing and distressing topic as corona, I am aware that it is equally stressful for my readers. I get several requests a day to write something happier, to give people hope in a post-corona world. And apart from the mental challenge of switching temporarily from misery to humour, I am very aware that humour (especially mine) will not be appreciated by everyone. And unappreciated humour at a stressful time like this is not a good thing to have.
So what to do?
As I was pondering it the other day, the living legend and arguably greatest living Croat, Mate Rimac, posted a comment on my wall.
Mate.
Rimac.
On.
My.
Wall.
In a bid to relieve my own levels of stress for a nano-second, I updated my Facebook cover photo to the legendary Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses. Never was the catchphrase ‘This time next year, Rodney, we will be millionaires’ seemed more apt.
Rimac, a serial overachiever with those cars of his, left a one-word comment. It was not this time next year we will be millionaires, but,,,
“Billionaires.”
Quite by chance, in my Facebook Memories that morning was this photo from last year at the EY Entrepreneur of the Year dinner in Zagreb. I had met Mate for 30 seconds in Porec a few years ago at the Nikola Tesla EV Rally, and when I told my youngest daughter that I was having dinner with Mate Rimac, she did not believe me and demanded a selfie as proof.
Which left me in a pickle. I could not lose face in my front of my daughter, but there were 300 people at the dinner, all of whom wanted a piece of Rimac. Thankfully, my oft-practiced strategy of sinking enough alcohol to overcome a sense of shame worked a treat, and the rest is history. Mate even remembered our Porec meeting and told me he was a fan of TCN. Wow!
The above chat ensued, and there it was. My cheeky suggestion that I take Mate for a spin in the $2.75 million C_2 if I promised not to drive like Richard Hammond. We sealed the deal, which I WILL be insisting on Mate delivering on in the post-corona world.
And then it occurred to me that 95% of people have time at the moment, and they are more likely to engage in social media interactions and make rash post-corona promises. So my top tip is to encourage this behaviour and then screenshot the promises for future evidence.
The other greatest living Croat – and also the brainiest – is of course the Jurgen Klopp of science, Igor Rudan, whose outstanding texts on corona have become required reading (and you can read Lauren’s fabulous translations on many of them on Igor’s TCN author page). I have yet to meet Igor in the flesh, but we chat by Messenger, as Lauren is translating much of his work. A highly entertaining man, and if you are awake at 4am for some banter, there is no funnier man online at this hour.
Igor’s texts have been SO appreciated by so many of our readers, and I have received SO many messages of thanks (the thanks are for Igor and Lauren, not me), including this message on my wall yesterday from my good friend and Master of Wine, Jo Ahearne (see above).
What a chance to organise a private wine tasting of Jo’s amazing wines which are a combination of Grapes from Hvar, Hands from London, with Croatia’s biggest brainbox! Imagine if we could combine that with me rocking up in my C_2 and Mate following in my 12-year-old Opel Zafira?
Why not? But which venue would we choose?
One of my small indulgences when I have a moment is to bait another of Croatia’s greatest Croats, and one who might give Igor’s brainpower a run for its money, Marko Rakar. The MRAK in Black is a big meat lover and has yet to taste the carnivorous delights on offer from Nikola Bozic at Djurina Hiza in Varazdinske Toplice. As Marko is the only person I know who knows everything, I asked him when all this would be over.
And again, we talked about that meat fest, which is looking ever more likely, as we reported yesterday that Nikola is not only retaining his staff but hiring more.
And the other thing I have noticed is that other people want to join in a discussion of hope and future happiness, and make all kinds of fantastic commitments.
Dear Ivo Spigel, for example, who is also keen to join the party, and he has seemingly agreed to pay for the whole lot. Young Spigel, I salute thee!
So there we have it. Sat in my bathrobe in Jelsa throwing out a couple of comments and posts on Facebook, I have managed to line up the most sensational day in the post-corona world.
Taking Mate Rimac for a spin in his C_2 to Varazdinske Toplice, before attending a quality tasting with Master of Wine, Jo Ahearne, in the company of two of Croatia’s brainiest blokes, Igor Rudan and Marko Rakar, before an outstanding dinner prepared by Nikola Bozic and his team. And the joyous sight through the haze of wine bottles in various states of undress of Ivo Spigel picking up the bill..
What a place this post-corona world will be!
Until then, you can follow the latest from the coronavirus crisis in Croatia on the dedicated TCN section.
