RIP vim. I did try.

.vimrc

"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Neil's .vimrc file.
"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

set nocompatible               " NEVER change this! Use Vim mode, not vi mode.
filetype plugin indent on      " Enable automatic settings based on file type
syntax on                      " Enable colour syntax highlighting

"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Options
"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" Use :help 'option (including the ' character) to learn more about each one.

" Buffer (File) Options:
set hidden                     " Edit multiple unsaved files at the same time
set confirm                    " Prompt to save unsaved changes when exiting
			       " Keep various histories between edits
set viminfo='1000,f1,<500,:100,/100,h

" Search Options:
set hlsearch                   " Highlight searches. See below for more.
set ignorecase                 " Do case insensitive matching...
set smartcase                  " ...except when using capital letters
set incsearch                  " Incremental search

" Insert (Edit) Options:
set backspace=indent,eol,start " Better handling of backspace key
set autoindent                 " Sane indenting when filetype not recognised
set cindent		       " Automatically indent after pressing Enter
set smartindent		       " Same as above
set nostartofline              " Emulate typical editor navigation behaviour
set nopaste                    " Start in normal (non-paste) mode
set pastetoggle=<f11>          " Use <F11> to toggle paste modes

" Status / Command Line Options:
set wildmenu                   " Better commandline completion
set wildmode=longest:full,full " Expand match on first Tab complete
set showcmd                    " Show (partial) command in status line.
set laststatus=2               " Always show a status line
set cmdheight=2                " Prevent "Press Enter" messages
			       " Show detailed information in status line
set statusline=%f%m%r%h%w\ [%n:%{&ff}/%Y]%=[0x\%04.4B][%03v][%p%%\ line\ %l\ of\ %L]

" Interface Options:
set number                     " Display line numbers at left of screen
set visualbell                 " Flash the screen instead of beeping on errors
set t_vb=                      " And then disable even the flashing
set mouse=a                    " Enable mouse usage (all modes) in terminals
" Quickly time out on keycodes, but never time out on mappings
set notimeout ttimeout ttimeoutlen=200

" Indentation Options:
set tabstop=8                  " NEVER change this!
" Change the '2' value below to your preferred indentation level
set shiftwidth=2               " Number of spaces for
set softtabstop=2              " ...each indent level

set shortmess+=I	       " Disable the default Vim startup message. 

set number relativenumber      " Show relative line numbers.

set backspace=indent,eol,start " Set backspace key to something reasonable.

" When entering insert mode, relative line numbers are turned off,
" leaving absolute line numbers turned on.
:augroup numbertoggle
:  autocmd!
:  autocmd BufEnter,FocusGained,InsertLeave * set relativenumber
:  autocmd BufLeave,FocusLost,InsertEnter   * set norelativenumber
:augroup END

" Disable audible bell because it's annoying.
set noerrorbells visualbell t_vb=

"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Maps
"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" F1 to be a context sensitive keyword-under-cursor lookup
nnoremap <F1> :help <C-R><C-W><CR>

" Reformat current paragraph
nnoremap Q gqip

" Move cursor between visual lines on screen
nnoremap <Up> gk
nnoremap <Down> gj

" Map Y to act like D and C, i.e. to yank until EOL, rather than act as yy,
" which is the default
map Y y$

" Map <C-L> (redraw screen) to also turn off search highlighting until the
" next search
nnoremap <C-L> :nohl<CR><C-L>

" Toggle search highlighting
nnoremap <C-Bslash>       :set hls!<bar>:set hls?<CR>
inoremap <C-Bslash>       <Esc>:set hls!<bar>:set hls?<CR>a

" Unbind some useless/annoying default key bindings.
nmap Q <Nop> " 'Q' in normal mode enters Ex mode. You almost never want this.

" Disable arrow keys
nnoremap <Left>  :echoe "Use h"<CR>
nnoremap <Right> :echoe "Use l"<CR>
nnoremap <Up>    :echoe "Use k"<CR>
nnoremap <Down>  :echoe "Use j"<CR>
inoremap <Left>  <ESC>:echoe "Use h"<CR>
inoremap <Right> <ESC>:echoe "Use l"<CR>
inoremap <Up>    <ESC>:echoe "Use k"<CR>
inoremap <Down>  <ESC>:echoe "Use j"<CR>

set noswapfile 
let &t_SI = "\<ESC>]50;CursorShape=1\x7"
let &t_SR = "\<ESC>]50;CursorShape=2\x7"
let &t_EI = "\<ESC>]50;CursorShape=0\x7"

nnoremap <silent> <ESC><ESC> <ESC>:nohlsearch<CR><ESC>

highlight LineNrAbove term=bold cterm=NONE ctermfg=DarkGrey ctermbg=NONE gui=NONE guifg=DarkGrey guibg=NONE
highlight LineNrBelow term=bold cterm=NONE ctermfg=DarkGrey ctermbg=NONE gui=NONE guifg=DarkGrey guibg=NONE


"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Auto commands
"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"
if has("autocmd")
  augroup filetype
    " Remove ALL autocommands for the current group.
    autocmd!

    " Jump to last-known-position when editing files
    " Note: The | character is used in Vim as a command separator (like ; in C)
    autocmd BufReadPost * if line("'\"") > 1 && line("'\"") <= line("$") | exe "normal! g`\"" | endif
  augroup END
endif
 
" Vim-plug
call plug#begin()
Plug 'tpope/vim-sensible'
Plug 'scrooloose/nerdtree', { 'on': 'NERDTreeToggle' }
Plug 'https://github.com/dahu/VimGym.git'
call plug#end()

I've learned a bunch from this experiment. Most cool things that vim has to offer can be done with mouse + multiple cursors + regex in PyCharm. Kudos to Ideavim, that extention is outstanding emulation of the real thing and it's super fast.