Scorching heat

After vacation in cooler parts of Europe, Croatia welcomed me with a heatwave. Last week temperatures rose as high as 39 in some parts of the country. This week will be hot too, with 36 degrees expected on Thursday.
When back in Zagreb, first thing I did was getting an electric fan in nearby Getro (my apartment is not air conditioned). It was made in Croatia and packed in a simple, white carton box with no pictures on it. I am always skeptical of Croatian products that you can't eat or drink, but "I believe they know how to make a simple thing like a fan," I can still hear myself saying.
Well, they don't.
The motor and the housing were shaking so much it would make a hammer drill manufacturer jealous. It make noise like a Tupolev taking off.
You can blame me for buying a fan in a supermarket store like Getro, but you should know Croatia hardly has any electronic shops to speak of. The nearest Media Markt is in Budapest or Graz. No Saturn, no Expert, no IKEA either.
I returned the fan and took the air conditioned bus to City Center One, shopping mall of modest size with one shop that offers consumer electronics, Konikom. It sells only one model fan but to my satisfaction it was made in China. "Could you switch it on?" I asked the lady at the counter. "Just to hear if it makes any noise." She kindly set the fan into motion. It was silent so I bought it. "What a difference!" I told the surprised lady.
Sitting a flow of air, I checked what happened in Croatia during my absence. Not much. We still don't know why Sanader quit, only that he's having a great time cruising the Adriatic on somebody's yacht. Vesna Pusić, one of Croatia's few liberal politicians, decided to run for president of Croatia in 2010. If she wins, Croatia will have a female president and a female prime minister. Prime minister Jadranka Kosor announced mayor cuts in spending and extra taxes, but after protests from labor unions she watered everything down. VAT (already 22 percent!) will go up to 23 percent. A crisis tax of 3 percent will be introduced, to be paid by everybody who earns more or has a bigger pension than 3.000 kuna (around 400 euro). Initially the tax would be as high as 8 percent, but unions protested vehemently. Unions here live in a dreamworld, blaming the crisis on "liberalism without concept" in which Croatia has slid away. It reminds me of Texans buying extra guns on the eve of Obama's election, fearing that "he will turn this country into a socialist state." "He's a communist," a man said into the camera, gently stroking his new rifle. Get real! Economic liberalism would be a blessing for the heavily indebted, bureaucratic, inefficient, subsidized Croatian economy.
Other news: Dinamo Zagreb beat Punyik from Armenia and plays Red Bull Salzburg next. A Croatian sports website wrote that if Salzburg's trainer, Dutchman Huub Stevens, had lived in the 1940s Hitler would have made him Field Marshall. (Stevens has also coached Schalke, Hitler's favorite club). Fortunately, incumbent president Stipe Mesić said that his successor "must be an anti-fascist". You see, World War II is always around the corner here.

Gay bashing in Zagreb

If you are gay and want to visit Zagreb, it might be good to know which spots in town you'd better avoid. Unfortunately, you'll need to go hiking in Medvednica or take a swim in Jarun as the center of Zagreb is crawling with people who might, in the best case, insult you.
Zagreb Pride published a map (click to enlarge) that shows the most dangerous locations in town for gays. Not surprisingly, the most dangerous street is Draškovićeva, and not because of the cinema complex, the Sheraton, a Chinese restaurant, a hospital and a ministry in that street. The threat comes from the headquarters of the Bad Blue Boys, Dinamo Zagreb's "fan club". The Bad Blue Boys have a terrifying record of violence against "others" - supporters of rival football clubs, homosexuals, foreigners...
The most severe punishment for anti-gay violence (14 months) was given to Bad Blue Boy Josip Šitum. He tried to attack participants of the Zagreb Pride 2007 with Molotov cocktails, on Zagreb's main square (Trg bana Josipa Jelačića). First thing he said after he was released: "I did what 70 percent of the Croats would do, if only they had the courage."
Orange dot: location of reported attack.
Red dot: particularly dangerous location.

Goodbye, Europe

Dinamo Zagreb has been kicked out of the UEFA-cup. The team lost 2-1 to Udinese and did not qualify for the next round. "Goodbye, Europe" say the headlines here.
Europe might respond: "Goodbye, Croatia. Hope not to see you for a while". Over the last years the hard core Dinamo fans, better known as the Bad Blue Boys, wreaked havoc in Graz, Udine, Prague, Bergamo and other cities. During the match against Udinese, some Bad Blue Boys threw flares on the field. Dinamo player Tomislav Šokota to calm the Bad Blue Boys, but got objects thrown at him. The match was suspended for ten minutes and then resumed.
Throwing flares is quite normal when Dinamo plays at home in the Maksimir Stadium. I took the picture below when Dinamo lost to Ajax Amsterdam, last year.
Dinamo might be suspended for a little longer than ten minutes. On 11 December UEFA will decide how Dinamo will be punished and exclusion from European football is one of the possibilities. In that case 2009 will offer the Croatian public little more than the deadly dull national competition.