Pick a word. Think of a word. And then start writing about it. It’s a game. It’s a competition. When I was about to become an interpreter for the European Commission, a job I got offered but didn’t accept (yes, I am an idiot), the last hurdle was a 10 minute talk about a topic they pulled out of a hat. At 10pm. After more than 12 hours of interviews and interpreting sessions. – Routine.

patienceOf course, it can be boring. You don’t have to think about it, nor do you have to concentrate. You just do it. You don’t even have to like it. It’s routine. You get over and done with, and then you move on to the interesting part of the day. Routine is what you can rely on, you know it inside out, it almost doesn’t require any effort, there is no risk, it’s very predictable. But boring. Germans are good at it. In Ireland, on the other hand, there is no routine. Everything, and I mean e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, is like as if you were doing it for the first time. Bus drivers, who have been driven the 45A for the past 20 years, never ever drive at the same speed, never ever arrive at the same stop at the same time, never ever get bored. They do have a timetable, but sure, every day is different, so how could a bus trip be the same? Trains officially ‘are on time’ if they arrive within half an hour-ish of the scheduled arrival. What? While my own job is not quite exciting as that of my public-service colleagues in CIE, there is some variety: routine, being able to rely on something, do something that would have a predictable outcome, would just get in the way of variety, excitement, the spice of life.  In Ireland, the only thing that is predictable is how life is going to end – and you could probably even do something about that if you rang Joe Duffy.

breaking-routineBeing all of a sudden confronted with a routine that hardly changes, is a challenge. It’s a challenge if you are (just over half) Irish. It must be hell if you are Irish Irish, like Pádraig. I am convinced that this whole routine thing is so, but soso boring and so intolerable for him, that  he will not be able to take this much longer. He is no man for routine. Nor for boredom. I am sure he has long run out of patience and is just figuring out how to get out of this ‘splace’, mentally and physically. I know I would, and while I am usually not particularly patient, in comparison to Pádraig, I am Job.

His day will come, soon.

Just in case you can’t wait to have a good coffee in the morning, hang in, there is just one day to go:

16 February Coffee Morning for Pádraig Schäler
Aideen Cassidy
12h00 – 15h00
26 Iona Drive
Dublin 9

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Today’s German Music Tip
Stella Jürgensen, Kafe in Pariz (2012). Stella Jürgensen is a singer and professional reader/speaker (she reads the news on ARD TV, Germany’s News on One) and produces, together with brilliant musicians Ralf Böcker und Andreas Hecht, new jiddisch music. Quite different and extraordinary.
What’s hot
Job
What’s cold
Hermine: “Er ist so ungeduldig wie sein Dad“, grinste Hermine.
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Rathaus

Twitter: @forPadraig
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http://www.caringforPadraig.org
Upcoming events: http://www.caringforPadraig.org/events