We went through the newspapers. We searched the interweb. We asked each and every German we know. We looked at the Litfasssäulen (remember these?). We checked out all poster walls, flyers, and radios ads. Zero, zilch, nada. The only reference was on a Facebook event page which turned out to be from 2012 – and noted that the event had to be cancelled because no police permit had been secured. Hamburgers (the people) are dry. Difficult to get excited. No St Patrick’s Day parade, not even an official party, anywhere to be found. Finnegan’s is the place to go to we were told, but we didn’t try it out tonight.

Instead, we watched the parades on the telly. Ballynamore was the closest the cameras got to Fenagh, where Pat and I spent the past few years at the crossroads, watching tractors and the local dancing school. It was usually wet, windy, and short. St Patrick’s Day is a bit like Christmas. You remember for the rest of your life where you spent it when and with whom. It brings back memories. And you can get quite nostalgic. Michael D. said in a short interview just before the parade that he was especially thinking of the Irish who could not be in Ireland on this very special day.

All the good stuff happening today was on the first room on the left when entering ward 2K. It was amazing how much attention to detail the hospital had paid to turn a good bit of the hospital green for this very special day – see yesterday’s pictures. Today, some even wore some green – and couldn’t have made feel Pádraig being looked after any better.

I just realized that I had misunderstood Van’s song ‘Days like this’ completely, for mangy years. I had always thought he was singing: “Well my mama never told me there’ll be days like this” for some stupid reason (I probably never listened closely, or my English never got good enough), and I always thought it was about disaster, bad things that were happening; when in fact he sings “Well my mama told me there’ll be days like this” and it’s about all this good stuff happening.

When no one steps on my dreams there’ll be days like this
When people understand what I mean there’ll be days like this
When you ring out the changes of how everything is
Well my mama told me therell be days like this

There’ll be days like this.

Lá Shona Fhéile Pádraig a thabhairt duit.

Today’s German Music Tip
Drafi Deutscher, Marmor, Stein und Eisen bricht (1974). This is one of the most iconic German hits ever. It came. It went. It returned. It went on and on and on…

What’s hot
2K
What’s cold
Hamburger on St Patrick’s Day
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Today’s quote is for advanced students of German:
“Dafür nuschelt er sich so cool durch seinen Popcorn-Krimi, als könnte er Eiswürfel pinkeln.” (The”Wittlager Kreisblatt” about Til Schweiger, Germany’s cooles Tatort-Kommisar)

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