A shadow of myself.
Taa taa ta taaaa tata, tata ta taa ta ta… I couldn’t get rid of this melody. It got stuck in my head and it was replaying, and replaying, and replaying. No way it would ever leave me alone. I turned on the radio, listened to a different kind of music. I tried chewing gum, the movement of my mouth and my teeth molding the gum would clear my head. I opened the window and stuck my head out at 120km/h. But once I settled back into my seat, looking out onto the A23, there it was again, very soft at first and then with all its whistles and bells: Taa taa ta taaaa tata, tata ta taa ta ta…
Where will it all end?
Yesterday, Pat and I went to the beach in St. Peter-Ording, just a few kilometers (or miles:) from here. And there, the Germans showed their real face: Although security had safely cordoned of the foot-bridge leading out towards the beach and the sea, they were climbing across the barrier, tearing it down in the process. Lenin once said about the Germans that if they were to start a revolution on a platform in a train station, they would buy platform-tickets (Bahnsteigkarten) to get there. Well, Lenin – guess what: Germany and the Germans have changed. Next thing will be that they’re going to ignore the little red man in the traffic lights. The end of the world as we know it. Anarchy!
A new nurse today. Turns out she has been in the hospital for less time than us. In a way, it’s re-assuring that not all is perfect in perfect-land. While she is not (yet) anywhere close to Pádraig’s favourite nurse, she is good, caring, and concerned. When she had turned Pádraig, she explained to me that she is putting pressure under his feet so that he doesn’t loose the feeling – think about it: after a long period not putting pressure on your feet, they might completely ‘forget’ what it feels like standing up with pressure on your feet. She also called in the Stationsarzt (like the ‘sister’ on a ward, only that here it’s a doctor) to explain to me that a slight movement around his temple where the bone plate was put in again is nothing to worry about; and that they had switched of the ‘under-pressure’ on the drainage in his lungs: all seemed to be good. Tomorrow, they will take another X-ray just to be sure to be sure, and then they will remove the tube. That will, hopefully, be the end of this little blip on Pádraig’s road to recovery.
There it is again: Taa taa ta taaaa tata, tata ta taa ta ta… Now I remember the song:
“Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end. We’d sing and dance forever and a day. We’d live the life we choose, we’d fight and never lose, for we were young and sure to have our way…” And then the last verse: “Through the door there came familiar laughter. I saw your face and heard you call my name. Oh my friend we’re older but no wiser, for in our hearts the dreams are still the same.” –
Today’s German Music Tip
Klaus Lage, 1000 und 1 Nacht (Zoom!) (1984) – There is also a really good live version of the song on youtube that has unfortunately been cut off at the end.
What’s hot
Getting up after a fall, falling again and getting up again, …
What’s cold
Bahnsteigkarten
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
…und es hat ZOOM gemacht!
Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
web: http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Hospi-Tales 
The best yet, Reinhard; and yet the Best is yet to come!!
Go deimhin, Seosamh.
Hello, Reinhard,
You know, you’ve got me started on that song as well now, so it will be going around all day in my head. I was going to say it would remind me of Pádraig, but that’s not a sensible thing to say because I don’t need reminders.
I’m trying to imagine the day when I will be the sensible Irish person NOT jaywalking, and all these transformed German people will be ignoring the red man. Scary stuff.
Today is the last day of semester for me as far as the MA in Ethics is concerned. I’ll take the opportunity to mention to you how much I have appreciated your questions as to what I’m learning (questions both in Beaumont and online). I’ll send you nice happy thoughts as I embark on my ‘dilemma presentation’ this evening and hand in my essay on Natural Law Theory. (Nice happy thoughts? Natural Law Theory? Poor old Thomas Aquinas would turn in his grave at the juxtaposition … well, maybe not, because I’ve just listed a positive attitude to the moral life as one of the advantages of NLT … ).
Best wishes,
Louise
You wouldn’t believe, Louise, how much I miss our conversations about ethics. I have been thinking of your presentation and really would have loved to be there tonight. – Seosamh got me going on another song. It won’t stick in your head this time, but it has some nice lyrics (I think). Hey hey, my my.
Hello again, Reinhard,
Well, bad enough for you to be putting tunes in my head without Seosamh joining in … !!! but all tunes very welcome all the same.
Our conversation will, hopefully, be taken up again next month when I am in Hamburg! The presentation last night would have been enhanced by your presence. There were six presentations in all, by the six teams in the class, each with a question-and-answer session in the middle. You would have had plenty of opportunities to contribute.
Very glad to hear about the dentist’s intentions and, in particular, about the way you felt Pádraig was very much with you. I wish you, and him, continuing experiences like this.
All the very best,
Louise