When you go into Des Kelly’s in Dublin and ask for a cheap mattress and bed, you have one choice. You might ask for the next best set, and go for that to make you feel a bit better.

Yesterday, we went into Dänisches Bettenlager, a discount store for mattresses and beds, and ask for a cheap set. Turns out they don’t do cheap, they only do ‘günstig’. We found a bed that was ‘worth it’ pretty quickly. Next on our list was a cheap mattress, sorry: one that was worth its money. What happened next was a lesson in intercultural 131217 Matratzestudies and alterity. It took me 30 minutes to understand, at least to a degree, all the different types and qualities of mattresses. We were told that, yes, they had cheap foam mattresses, but under no circumstance would they sell one of these to us. I was too tall, too heavy, and too old to sleep on a simple cheap foam mattress. So we had to keep looking and checking until we finally found the one that struck the fine balance between what was just about acceptable (not to us, but the sales assistant), and what we could afford. When I thought we had everything covered, it turned out that we also needed a flexible ‘Lattenrost’ between the bed and the mattress. We had thought that it could not get much more complicated. Little did we know. A day later, and we are still looking for a bed, Lattenrost, and, above all, for a mattress. We learned that, for Germans, mattresses are extremely important. It seems, that you can sue that shop for selling you inadequate and cheap combinations of Lattenrost, mattress, and bed – if you survive the highly dangerous ordeal to actually sleep on them. And the shops take no risks! We’ll be trying again tomorrow.

Today, Pádraig did have a third pneumothorax – the one we had been told about before but which turned out to be a false alarm. After about 10 hours without the pump producing an artificial vacuum in his lungs, his left lung collapsed again. Now, they started to look into the possibility of performing a procedure called pleurodesis that would artificially glue Pádraig’s lung to his chest cavity. If they do it, he will have to be moved to another Hamburg hospital at least for a day. We are, of course, concerned but are wondering, whether this is really something to worry about, considering the bigger picture. The whole thing could drive you bananas… There doesn’t seem to be an end to the drama.

Two of Pádraig’s friends were again with him today, another one will be joining tomorrow. While Pádraig was pretty relaxed and tired today, I am sure he feels their presence and their deep and never-ending friendship – one of the most valuable things anyone could ever hope for.

Today’s German Music Tip
Juliane Werding, Am Tag als Conny Kramer starb (1972). More than 2 million clicks on Juliane Werding’s performance in the German Hitparade on 19 Feb 1972 – you will recognize the tune. Having watched Juliane performing her number 11 all these years ago, I was instantly ready to take Conny’s place on Juliane’s side, and spent the rest of the day, and night, teaching myself this song written, as I found out years later, by The Band. So Conny Cramer turned out to be Virgil Caine who served on the Danville train… and I had my first identity crisis.

What’s hot
Mattresses 
What’s cold
Pneumothorax of the third kind
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Günstig
Kaltschaummatratze
Den Kopf voll verrückter Ideen