I’ve stumbled into executing a cunning plan in the time of Covid19. I had to stay out of UK and Schengen region for three weeks before April 5th. I decided to book three weeks in the off-season in an inconveniently located sea-side resort in Croatia.

There is almost nobody here.

It’s OK apart from the eerie feeling that I am in a 70s dystopian <last person alive in futuristic city that provides everything you need> vibe. Actually, not going to lie, I think this may be my aesthetic because I’m loving sitting *alone* in clean spacious surroundings.

I talked myself into being upgraded into a suite from a room cheaper than a London serviced apartment. It has a long work table and the kind of internet that makes my work easier.

The staff are very friendly. Like Poe@The Raven starved of guests from “Altered Carbon” kind of friendly. Made some friends already.

So in these times of self-isolation and “working from home” I seem to have lucked out. Bonus: this hotel appears to have apocalypse proof stockpiles of toilet paper and breakfast food. All this for me.

If London gets bad then I am going to stay on here longer than three weeks. I don’t think many people will be going on holiday here and they bring me all toilet paper and hand sanitiser I could ever need.

Day 1: I’ve established a routine and source of cheap food. Lab established. I do need to take time to go out walking though. Getting plenty of sun in room. Thought that a pandemic declaration or travel ban announcement would be at least a week or two away. Waiting on UK update.

Day 2:

Seems I just made it by a few days.

”On 12 March the Croatian government announced that it will introduce with immediate effect a compulsory 14 day period of self-isolation for all foreign nationals arriving from the following destinations: the United Kingdom......”

Day 3: Made friends with a lovely loud elderly very New York woman (80yo "Fran Drescher/The Nanny"). I'm looking out for her. Should the shit hit the fan here I have plans to take the hotel and rule it "Max Max" style. I'm favouring Fury Road obvs. Stocking up on chrome paint.

Most productive day. Re-networked the hotel room. Theoretical fix for some issues. Not walking enough. Not drinking enough water. Enjoying the bed getting so much sun at 2pm. Keep finding empty nooks in which to inhabit.

Just learned from the local news that the borders in Croatia will be closed tomorrow. Still no cases in the Split-Dalmatia region so .

Day 4: A small avian visited for breakfast who then pooped on the table next door. Either this is a sign of good luck or a portent that the world is done with us and bird flu is now being hand delivered by nature’s little murder-birds.

This morning, venturing out to a coastal town, that they forgot to close down Armageddon, come Armageddon come. https://open.spotify.com/track/35QqYVFvCYED2PmgvJtCpy?si=xmmKNTIcRaioXZ7Gergn_Q

I have this access to this huge bath so I just bought a dozen assorted bath bombs from @lushcosmetics. I’ve always been a bit iffy about them as a fad but put them on my bucket list. I guess now is as good a time as any to kick the bucket list.

Day 5: The lovely old lady is now “terrified” of me, didn’t want me to approach at breakfast. It was a bit of a shock but I can’t say I blame her. The day was spent mostly in bed. I cooled some sweet white wine in the bathtub by filling a shopping bag with ice. Absorbed the sun.

Day 6: I’ve extended here for two more weeks. Possibility that government may close all hotels except one but will cross that bridge before it burns down and collapses.

The birds are closing in. Not enough people have been feeding them.

In a conference call the last person to sign off with “bye” was someone’s little girl. There was an adorable little breathy “byeee” then silence. My heart melted.

Day 7: Cutbacks in hotel breakfast. No more full buffet. Instead, being forced to use the chef who only serves freshly cooked meals of whatever I ask. The bastard.

Went for a walk. Met a nice cat.

Also met a nice floof walker

Also looked at some water.

Day 8:

Day 9: Hotel looks like it will be staying open by law but it depends on the union here. Have a lovely Airbnb lined up otherwise because picket lines are not to be crossed. Most hotel services are closed but the room is good, the weather is getting warmer on the balcony.

Day 10: I am this cat. I feel you buddy. Bringing him food tomorrow.

Went for a walk. Did a video conference by the sea.

Did some shopping. Bought water, Baileys, Pringles and Bananas (don’t @ me). Only one person allowed in store at a time. They pour alcohol on your hands before entry.

Day 11: Life comes at you fast.

Excuse me while I lose myself in this capitalist nightmare as the world evolves through needs towards a socialist utopia. #AnimalCrossingNewHorizon

Moving to a serviced apartment tomorrow. The hotel has really let me down by setting a day then changing it with less than 24 hours notice. Found a beautiful place. Had to spend too much of the weekend adulting.

While finding a new place I did meet some nice cats.

Did see some nice things. Community is coming together and volunteering to help those in need.

Feeling sick but not the C19 sick. Almost forgot about this chonky grl. Goodnight!

Day 12: In the quest for a place to live with reliable internet and the right kind of TV that I can develop with I have stumbled upon a bargain. Penthouse apartment in the palace of Diocletian for a fraction of the normal price.

I was worried about these bells out the window. Surely they don’t use them?

Oh, these bells are definitely not here to fuck spiders.

Woke to news of earthquake in Zagreb. People on way here seeking sanctuary. If city goes to hell they will need to get up all the floors through at least one suspected Russian mobster and the Danish embassy, so, good luck to them. The Danes don’t mess around, and those Russians.

Also my power setup. Don’t @ me.

6pm bells. 8pm bells.

Day 13: 7am bells.

Reminded of the weird looks I got when I ever mentioned or showed these that I bought two years ago and put them in my travel kit “in case of another SARS”.

So much of the culture here seems to be the surrounding Balkan states doing acts of kindness to each other with the undertone of “Look! We are not killing each other any more!”

On Friday had the team meeting from a beach, today I shifted it up a peg. – at The Basement Halls of Diocletian’s Palace

Want to know something novel? Being a white Australian male in a foreign country and having people look at you with clear fear and suspicion when they hear your voice and accent.

Day 14: Went out to get food and have a walk and have team meeting in another empty location. Back in the warmth working.

Day 15: This is my aesthetic now.

Did my morning exercise and team meeting in which I mostly stalked a squirrel, put flowers in my beard while convincing people not to do bad things with DRM.

Also, met some nice cats.

Signs of the times.

Come at me.

Day 16: Early morning walk in wilderness and videoconference. Today I attended the day team call perched on a tree jutting over cliff. I think the rest of the team have given up.

Also, maintaining my idiom, I met some nice cats today.

I’m particularly enamoured with this dark tortie. I am going to call her Isabella.

Working and ripening fruit in the sun.

Team member just sent me this from the meeting this morning. In consideration for extra points - I was perched there above a 10m sheer drop.

I’m working right now. This is my job.

Day 17: Held my team video call at the statue of Saint Girgor. It’s a tradition to rub his lucky toe. You normally have to queue for ages to rub the toe. Not today, but as I observed, some people are still rubbing the toe. RIP them.

I made friends with this strange looking creature. I love him. I’m obviously coping well.

Had a nice morning walk. 10k steps. Guess what I met? Guess?
Guess?

A nice cat!

Day 18: Very domestic day. Cleaning, laundry and a visit to the pet-store. Coding. Watching BBC News and The Swamp Thing.

Day 19: So very lazy,

8 pm. Croatians doing something patriotic from windows.

Day 20: Hey team, I don’t have a cat but I like cats and everyone likes to see cats on Zoom meetings because cats! Cats! CATS!

Yes. I have taken to seducing the local cats and corralling them into my team meetings.

Organising a TV to be delivered so I can support a new platform.

Day 21: Raining and windy, so I did not venture outside.

From the number of pissed off cats I am seeing in videos I believe they are completely over it at this point and firmly wishing we all went the fuck to work so they could chill or get back to secret cat business.

Day 22: Busy busy day. Team meeting by the sea. Long walk. Met nice cats. Shopping. Intense work day. The sweet release of sleep.

Day 23: Team meeting on a hill. One member is upping their game. Met many nice cats.

This one is my fave, because tortie.

Apparently, the government here is going to increase taxes on alcohol to incentivise people to make healthy decisions while locked down, so I made a rational decision.

Day 24: Realised that we are probably going to lose Žižek to COVID-19.

The unit of face touching frequency should be named the ”Žižek”, for reasons that should be obvious and so on and so on.

Day 25: Slept in. Woke very late. Now being domestic and cleaning.

Walked. Shopped. Have a nice fruit bowl going.

Watching a certain movie.

Day 26: Slept half the day. Went for a long walk by the seaside.

Met a nice cat.

Met a nice pidgeon.

Slept most of day. Feeling run down. Taking all the naps.

Day 27: Getting up to this view of the world is keeping me sane. The bells, less so. Deliveries this week of new equipment for TV lab. Making progress on my project at night and early in the morning. Wish I had all my R-Pi’s that I left in Prague.

My day began with being on the phone catching up with someone and then starting to get messages that TV was broken on a platform for an entire nation. Luckily I had a device in my lab kit. One of those days... swapping between firmware to find when and how they broke it.

Then I learned that the landlord had given me the wrong street address on the contract... which I have used for deliveries. Lucky I received notification of a failed delivery. Drivers refuse to call a foreign number. Been on phone fixing that mess up.

Day 28: A funny thing happened on the way to the forum.

Going for a walk. And you know what that means.

I feel you.

The old town of Split is like Dark Souls. All the places are surprisingly connected.

Day 29: Morning contained some traces of possible super-science. https://twitter.com/DrMiaow/status/1247803226373545998

Went for a walk. Met some cats. Saw an accusing octopus. What did the little turtle do? What did she do?

Saw cool old things.

And cool new things.

And nice sights.

Day 30: This week can go to hell.

I gave it an instruction that will give it float PI but it still prefers to evolve its own constants.... cos(x)=

Well it got there eventually.

Giving it a hard task to do while I disappear from the world. Not feeling the best. Time to curl up into a ball.

Day 31: A perfect avocado morning.

Day 32: I’m not here to fuck spiders.

It’s that time again. #AlienMovie

Now a very relevant scene

Ash is now suggesting that Ripley should read more.

Only just noticed that Ash dies with the smirk of his last line before Ripley pulls the plug.

This is the example candidate for an idea I had around this time last year that I failed to explain to someone because there was beer and a cat.

Onto movie #2.

Day 33: The deed is done.

Now Alien #3

Fed Conway's Game of Life data into my thing and it made a thing which I will take a look at later. (isAlive,neighbourCount) => isAliveNextGen

Watched #4. I always see something different in it. Sometimes good, often bad.... and now Prometheus. David in isolation in the ship is an inspiration to all of us.

This one is very hairy but gets it right. As prep it does a strange reliable dance to get the stack state it wants then seems to get down to it.

This one builds some kind of range and tests it.

This one is compact. Truth table looks OK

8 pm mass anyone?

Day 34: Not perfect, but good.

Onto the final film.

Always with the quarantine. I'm declaring the Alien franchise the prefect pandemic movie marathon.

Created some tooling for visualising the evolution of Game of Life algorithms.

Day 35: Watched so many Alien films in the last 4 days that when waking this morning it felt like I was coming out of hyper-sleep.

It's going to be a perfect day.

Day 36: ...

Baked goods in the sun

Not well today.

How am I socially isolating but somehow still catching things that are not the thing?

Day 37: I feel you seagull.

Day 38: I feel you, surprised block of concrete.

I met the bestest cat.

Woosh!

Day 39: Domestic day. Cleaning. Laundry. Going for a walk. Meeting nice cats.

Met another nice cat.

It is that time.

Which leads to...

Day 40: Lazy Sunday. May hunt for burger ingredients. Likelihood of finding vegan burger patties in the Balkans?

We are all playing Mass Effect and we have all chosen the Tali romance option.

Day 41: My fruit-bowl is a good fruity bowl.

Out for a walk in the rain and met some nice cats.

Exploring all the Dark Soulsy connectedness of this city.

Easy to get lost.

Day 42: Mood - Avocados ripening slowly on a rainy day.

It is that time of the year.

I’m playing the “if they drink whiskey you must drink whisky” game.

J.F Sebastian is the patron saint of Silicon Valley incels.

YOLO

Roy should have been totally naked hunting Decker through Bradbury towers.

How to be vegan.

It is not lost on me that on day 42, I watched “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”.

Day 43: A good avocado day.

Walking out of in times of COVID is like playing a game of “Simon Says” but with a potential death penalty. Not today traffic light pedestrian crossing button. Not today.

I’m at the doctors and I’m not sitting on any of the seats. Hand sanitiser after signing using an electronic stylus. Walking and trying not to forget why I should not just sit. Worst game of “Simon Says” ever.

Working my way through the classics.

Day 44: My avocado luck continues unabated.

Day 45: My project did a thing and I'm still trying to figure it out. https://twitter.com/DrMiaow/status/1253586275417894912

Day 46: Feeling a bit bleurgh. Went for a long walk. Saw some nice rocks. Met some nice cats.

This morning I woke up after the 7am church bells, lept into a frenzy of cleaning and then spent an hour on an analysis of why my thing might have done the thing. https://www.conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4458&p=95428#p95418 ping @fakevexorian @yip_pe

Team meeting. There were two cats. I attended as a pan-dimensional being.

This cat was the best one.

Day 47: Please... not today Pestilence and War.

Day 50: Busy busy morning. Took delivery of portable USB-C display so I am back to two screens on my workstation and can conceivable get three screens on my laptop. Been surviving for the last 50 days with one display.

Actually it’s day 48. I seem to have lost the ability to count up by one.

Urghhhhhpht. I’m dysfunctional today. I am not feeling it world. I think I might give today a miss.

Day 49: I'm broken.

Yesterday vs Today.

Day 50 (for reals this time): These trucks have been pumping something out of the drains for last three days and the noise is starting to wear me down.

Day 51: Avocado oracle says today won’t be perfect, but I can live with that.

The priests in the monastery my AirBnB looks down into exercise in isolation by crawling up this gap and walking up and down the flat roof section. I’ve taken to giving them a rating on mount and dismount.

Yesterday an old priest got up, walked into the middle, had a look on his face of “fuck this” then walked back and dismounted again in under a minute.

I feel you Father.

Day 52: It started well but was such a struggle.

Day 53: Giant sleep in. Out of avocados. Very domestic day. Giant shopping day. Met another Australian stranded here and feel guilty that I didn’t grab their number so we can all look out for each other in a very Australian way. .. Then again possibility of .

Met a nice pigeon.

Saw my cats.

I can see this abandoned monster from my room and keep wishing I had a wifi can... and a captains ticket.

Context: I really want to.... free this boat and.... evaluate it hard, all the way to Nassau. Also, I may have been watching far too much Black Sails recently.

https://twitter.com/drmiaow/status/1253370534256979970?s=21 https://twitter.com/DrMiaow/status/1253370534256979970

8pm and all is well.

Day 54: Lazy day. Rewatched Chernobyl.

This damage was not here a week ago. The local are restless and at least one of them, evidently, is anti-semitic.

Day 55: My avocadoes are ripening with delight.

Met some nice cats.

I hear the crew here do a spectacular after-dinner surprise. – at Restaurant Nostromo

Day 56: Busy day. I forgot to update but I did meet a nice cat and then drank wine and sang along a little to @SoozUK singing Kate Bush on Twitch.

Day 57: Another crazy busy day.

Met some nice cats.

Suffering from strange insomnia.

Day 58: A delivery arrived. Now I can do some bigger experiments.

Day 59: Lazy public holiday day. Some self-care, grocery-shopping and now drinking single malt and rewatching Battlestar Galactica.

Met some more nice cats.

Many nice cats.

This scene from BSG takes on a new meaning in these times.

Day 60: Domestic morning of cleaning and fruit wrangling.

Today will apparently be less than perfect, but pretty good.

Day 61: It will be a good day.

And so say we all.

Yesterday I learned that to turn wine into water just takes some carefully chosen blue glass.

There is that word again.

Day 62: So busy I forgot to report in. There was more BSG watching done and the cafes have opened here which I am absolutely positively staying the fuck away from.

Retirement goals.

Day 63: It will be an OK day with some minor work related stress.

Avoiding neck-strain with cardboard boxes. Been suffering for the last week with muscular aches and pains. Hoping this helps.

Date 64: There are no avocados left here in the stores, but there are cheap mangos for some reason. So....

Weekend task. Cleaning windows... obviously.

Day 65: Avocados are back in stock.

Day 66: Hard long day with a difficult decision. Now BSG and a food coma.

Day 67: Current status - Vacuuming a renaissance palace to the best of AC/DC spilling out the windows to the church below.

Day 68: Almost nice.

Day 69: Nice.

Gone native.

Day 70: I made this for breakfast. Don’t ask.

Another rainy day. Want to swim and get some exercise but the weather here has been stormy or overcast or both for the last two weeks.

Day 71: Busy busy busy day. Saw a wistful seagull.

The seagulls here are *huge* bastards.

Day 72: Morning walk. Did all the exercise. Saw some nice things.

Also this little guy

The church bells start a few minutes before mass all around here, but the tower next to me must be on some some kind of automation slaved to an accurate clock. The small bell spins up on the very second.

Yes, I'm excited by Windows Terminal updates. Don't @ me.

Overnight my thing discovered a way to sort three numbers

Day 73: Went for a nice walk

Met some nice cats.

Want want want to explore this abandoned and definitely haunted greenhouse in the wilderness.

Saw a nice bar of sunlight in my lobby.

When your apartment has a picture of itself in itself. I’m not used to living in a place older than my own country.

Day 74: Domestic day with much cleaning and shopping. Got some internal revenge against the bell ringers.

The day was not perfect.

But it all comes right in the end.

Day 75: Looking better.

Can't escape the bells.

Carnage (2017) has aged well.

Sunday coding.

Day 76: I know exactly where my towel is.

Cronenberging due to UK bank holiday.