Today was a strangely mixed day. My friend Martin invited me to go monster catfishing with him in his boat on Lake Domasa. I’ve been looking forward to this for quite some time. I was amazed by the amount of technology Martin had on the boat, including sonar and electric GPS anchor motor. We used large live bait (tench) and massive hooks and strong lines, and Martin employed the traditional wooden clonking method on the water. The trip lasted about 5 hours and was unsuccessful, unfortunately, but we had a great time together sitting in the middle of the lake, amid beautiful scenery, discussing the state of the world. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

However, a black cloud hovered around me all day as my eldest boy, Brano, went into hospital today for a hernia operation (the actual op is tomorrow), and he should be out on Wednesday. I have very little faith in the medical system out here as I’ve had way too many bad experiences with it so I am concerned. Hopefully, everything will work out well and he’ll be home soon.