An (even) older colleague once told me, that the best thing that could happen to you in work was that ‘they’ ignored you, ‘they’ being the bosses in our place of work. Can you believe this? I thought that was incredibly funny. I had always wanted to get their attention because I was doing really important work that would change the course of the world. I wanted them to share my enthusiasm, my energy, my believe in a better future! In my mind, it was easy: I just needed to get their attention, a minute of their time, and they would see the power of my ideas and back me up with the power of their office.

Until I managed to get their attention. And learned my lesson.

So here it goes for those with a low frustration threshold: If you want your job to be more or less uncomplicated, you *are* much better off if your boss doesn’t even know that you exist. Because bosses will rarely encourage your enthusiasm (unless you happen to support the same cause as they do in which case they will give you loads of work and then claim all the glory), but they will always blame you when things go wrong, and they will most certainly not tolerate you ‘waisting’ resources on what they will most likely see as your personal hobby horses. – Or am I too cynical?

Looking back at last week and, in fact, the past months of my experience with the Irish Health System, the senior consultants and the civil servants there must have made the same experience in their jobs as I did in mine. So now, they are so used to situations that are really intolerable to anyone else, that they don’t understand what all the fuss is about when people are outraged. They don’t understand what all the fuss is about and refer to white papers and all sorts of plans. They celebrate a ‘wonderful day’ when long overdue replacement buildings are announced, rather than the expansions that are so desperately needed.

Young people of Ireland: please, take over our country, as quickly as you can. If we old people don’t want to leave voluntarily, send us into exile. There is too much frustration around, and too little enthusiasm, hope, energy and believe that things can change – that it is people, your family and friends, compassion, and happiness that *really* counts, and not ‘looking good’, not having loads of money, not spending more time at work, not being really competitive pushing others out of the way, not the economy.

A high heart rate would usually be a reason for concern. Not today. Pádraig was just trying very hard to move. For the first time (there are a lot of ‘first time’ things happening these days!) we saw him moving his feet when sitting in the viva-la-thekla (remember it?). Not a lot. But he did: lifting up the front of his right foot, and turning his left foot out towards the left. I think he might be getting ready to surprise the Ärztin usually overlooking his care when she comes back in a bit more than a week (she is away on holidays). – We know that it has always been a few steps ahead and a few steps back, so we’ll stay calm this time too and won’t get too excited. But I think it’s all good signs, even though we are still talking about tiny steps…

Today’s German Music Tip
Vicky Leandros – Theo, wir fahr’n nach Lodz (1974). Disco with Ilja Richter. It’s incredible, but I can remember this! The lyrics are almost better than the music (if that is possible).

What’s hot
Exile
What’s cold
Frustration
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Mensch, nu tu ma’n bissken Butter bei die Fische!± (…. and watch what Google Translate has to say to this:)

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

Happiness comes from buying and consuming if you believe the advertisements, from beauty and fame, if you believe the celebrity press. If you are a politician, or a journalist, it’s the growing economy.

Action for Happiness commissioned a poll in the U.K. and this is what it found: 87% of all adults preferred the ‘greatest overall happiness and wellbeing’, only 8% preferred ‘greatest overall wealth’. When asked about the three changes that would most increase their happiness and wellbeing ‘my relationship with my partner/family’ came our first with 80%; ‘my health’ came out second with 71%. ‘My money and financial situation’ came a distant third with 42%; only 4% picked ‘my possessions’ and ‘my appearance’. The lesson: most people prefer a happier rather than a richer society – “we should spend less time focusing on the size of the economy and more time to help people live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives”.

And yes, today is the U.N.’s International Day of Happiness!

The lesson for me is that my intuition and Pádraig’s friends are right; frustrated consultants, power-hungry politicians, competitive health-service economists are wrong. When will the ever learn?

Today, Pádraig had three visitors from Ireland. And again, what a contrast between these young people, full of energy, humor, hope, dignity, common sense, love, and compassion, and what I have got to know as the establishment dealing (or rather *not* dealing) with Pádraig’s condition and that of his compadres. Really, I cannot wait for Pádraig’s friends to take over the country and I hope it’ll happen sooner rather than later! I’d trust these 20-something-year-olds and their sense of right and wrong any day.

The man himself was really alert and good today. Squeezing hands, lifting up his right arm, cooperating really well with his oral hygiene.

One really fantastic detail I forgot to tell when I was writing about the GCS. Nurses, doctors, and consultants who were quite negative about Pádraig’s chances to get better in the US and in Ireland (therefore representing one of these ‘bad investments’ – as if we were dealing with bad banks instead of with sick people!!!), all noted that when they were shining a light into his pupils, they did not contract, they did not react, they did not move. Well, according to his doctor, they now do. Keine Frage. Überhaupt gar keine Frage!

Interesting case of man with brain damaged who is pleading with the HSE to allow him leave Beaumont Hospital and go home. Another interesting case at the European Court of Justice and the HSE’s withdrawal of cover for a man in a German Hospital: ECJ Advocate General says HSE not entitled to end treatment funding for quadriplegic Irishman in Germany.

Finally, check out the special edition of The Late Debate on RTE Radio 1 with Cormac Ó hEadhra allowing us to tell Pádraig’s story (from last Tuesday, 18 March 2014). We were quite disappointed by the lack of engagement at a human level by the panel; there was a sense of resignation and resort to ‘strategic plans’ that we have heard about so often by now. They do not really offer any viable solutions to fix “this broken health system”, for which “we” are certainly not to blame, as suggested by one of the panelists.

Seochtain had another article on Pádraig yesterday.

Today is day 10 of our wait for the contact “without delay” by James Reilly’s Department of Health requested by the Taoiseach.

Today’s German Music Tip
Jan Delay, Liebe (07 March 2014). – One of Germany’s coolest singers with his latest song to be published on 11 April 2014)`
“Ich hab’s Euch hundertmal gesagt: das iss ‘ne Rockplatte!!!” (02:00)
“So viel Liebe für Hamburg…” (02:10)

What’s hot
ECJ
What’s cold
HSE
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Pustekuchen!

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org

I promised myself an early night. And I will keep that promise.

I haven’t listened back to last night’s late debate yet, that’ll have to wait a little while until I’ll find some time – it seems that I’ve lost it, time, it’s gone, and I can’t get it back, can’t find it anywhere. It’s not the first time that has happened to me. It is, to be honest, almost the story of my life. Chasing time.

One very strong feeling I took away from last night is that if nothing else helps, time will bring a solution. We got quite a few messages echoing our own feelings about the disappointing stance of some of the panelists during the Late Debate programme. They seemed to move at the same level as the civil servants that prepared the Taoiseach’s response to us. And the consultants from the NRH. They are all good people. But they have been worn down by “this broken system”.

Pádraig was doing well today. Two new things happening: the physios put Pádraig into a new position on his side, with his oxygen markers staying in a Nisht. And he will be getting a new tracheostoma that will make it easier to experiment with a a speech speech wale. – He’s had , aign,

Here is my second promise tonight: I will not be worn down. And I will keep this promise too.

I have never had so much support for anything I have done in my life before, ever. The majority of this support comes from young people most of whom I did not know just a few months ago. It is Pádraig and his friends who are the future. Most of the participants of last night’s programme, most of today’s politicians and HSE bureaucrats will soon be history.

In the meantime, and until they take over, we’ll just have to prepare the ground for them. Protect the most vulnerable.

It’s almost two o’clock in the morning. And I’m not even having a good time, as one should if you stay up that late. It’s almost one o’clock back home in Dublin. – I’ll have to fake the time of this blog so that it looks like as if it had been written on 18 March, just before midnight. You will forgive me, I am sure.

Tonight, the “Late Debate” on RTÉ Radio 1, the first radio channel of Ireland’s national broadcaster, dedicated a full hour to Pádraig’s case. To “this broken health system” and to an insurance “system” that promises a 6.5 million cover, but then doesn’t pay the bills.

We spent a lot of time preparing for this hour and then did not manage to get half of the points in. The lesson I learned: right at the beginning, no matter what the first question is, you just ignore it and state your most important point.

“It is said that a society can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members. The Medical Independent reports that when it comes to providing appropriate rehabilitation services, Ireland is neglecting its duty of care.” (June Shannon, 14 July 2011)

1. The National Rehabilitation Hospital’s consultant in charge of Acquired Brain Injury co-authored a report which clearly states that “Access to rehabilitation is a basic human right. European legislation makes it clear that people with disabilities should have access to appropriate rehabilitation” and “All those needing rehabilitation should have access to it. This holds also for those with extensive or multiple disabilities.”

2. Neurorehabilitation services in Ireland are recognized to be the worst in Europe. And even if the improvements being sought were implemented, they would still be worse than those in any other European country with the exception of the UK. For example “we currently have 7 consultants to serve specialist neurorehabilitation needs across the whole country. But even if we had 50 we would still have the lowest number per capita in Europe with the exception of the UK. And if it increased to 150, we would still be behind countries like Estonia, Latvia, Czech Republic, Croatia and Serbia. In other words, what we are really aspiring to is not to have services that any country could be proud of, or even services that are mediocre – but to be the second worst country in Europe for neurorehabilitation.” (Chris Macey, Chairperson NAI)

3. There are just three beds allocated to the disorder of consciousness programme in the country’s only rehabilitation hospital. Aoine Carroll, National Clinical Lead for the HSE’s rehabilitation medicine programme: “It is very labour intensive because we have such a shortage of beds. We can’t justify any more beds because you can make the argument that it is a much better investment of resources to invest that time and effort into individuals who are going to increase their functionality, reduce care costs, hopefully get them home, get them back to work. These are individuals who will never get to that point, so we have to limit the number of beds that service to three.” – Dr Carroll seems to see patients as an investment: if you don’t provide a return, we’ll ditch you. Dr Carroll, neurorehabilitation “even” for severe cases, is not primarily a question of investment, but a question of ethical and legal obligations. ETHICAL AND LEGAL OBLIGATIONS!

4. A highly prestigious scientific publication, the Cochraine review, published a report on “Multi-disciplinary rehabilitation for acquired brain injury in adults of working age (review)” in which the authors stated:
“For moderate to severe injury, there is ‘strong evidence’ of benefit from formal intervention. For patients with moderate to severe ABI already in rehabilitation, there is strong evidence that more intensive programs are associated with earlier functional gains.” Meaning that there is widespread scientific agreement of the question of rehabilitation, of formal intervention.

Consider this:

• We wrote a letter of complaint to the Patient Representative in Beaumont Hospital and never received a reply.
• We wrote a letter to the Taoiseach who in turn asked the Department of Health to get in contact with us “without delay” – over a week ago. We have not heard from them yet.
• We are raising what has been known for a long time, what is blatantly obvious, and what nobody cares about: the dignity and the human rights of the most vulnerable members of our society. Ireland is neglecting its duty of care.

The answer: white papers, strategy papers and implementation papers. Stuff, civil servants like.

But lets make it concrete, graphical: what about the lack of funding to buy a headrest for a wheel chair; to buy cotton buds to conduct proper oral hygiene; to buy equipment for each patient so that it doesn’t have to be shared, so that it doesn’t spread multi-resistant bacteria? What about dislocated shoulders, bed sores, and dropped feet? What about the lack of personal hygiene, not getting your hair washed for months, being put under severe risk by doctors not washing their hands before and after they examine you? What about being cared for in an acute hospital environment when it is clear, that, without the shadow of a doubt, you should receive early neuro rehabilitation?

“We are all to blame”, said a prominent participant on tonight’s show – to which I would have replied, had I had the opportunity: “No, we are not.” But where have the specialists been, the consultants and doctors who are supposed to stand up for their patients’ rights and dignity?

And now: the best for last. In preparation for tonight’s interview, I checked out Pádraig’s Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). The GCS measures Eye Opening, Verbal Response, and Motor Response, and is a reliable and objective way of recording the initial and subsequent level of consciousness in a person after a brain injury. The GCS is scored between 3 and 15, 3 being the worst, and 15 the best. While every brain injury is different, generally brain injury is classified as:

• Severe: GCS 3-8 (You cannot score lower than a 3.)
• Moderate: GCS 9-12
• Mild: GCS 13-15

In Beaumont, it was between 3 and 4 (3 being the lowest possible value). Having checked with his doctor this morning, this value has gone up to 10-11. Pádraig is out of the state when he could not communicate and react, and not in a deep coma anymore.

Take note: even “individuals who will never get to that point, so we have to limit the number of beds that service to three” can make progress – if you leave them with their fundamental human rights, if you treat them with respect, and if you don’t ditch them (because you care)!

Tonight I know two things: (1) Pádraig will most definitely get better, much better; and (2) I will not let the ‘system’ get away with it. This is not about papers, this is about Pádraig’s health, dignity, and human rights – as well as that of many, many others in his position. And the Taoiseach, the Minister of Health, the NRH consultants better take note.

And what the insurance is concerned – who would ever in their right mind buy an insurance policy that promises millions of euro and then pulls out the small print when you need their help? Who would ever in their right mind buy an insurance policy that is obviously not fit for purpose?

It’s three o’clock now. Good night Ireland!

A t-shirt, tailored for Pádraig for a very special day…

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.

… not just the t-shirt, but matching shorts, elegantly prepared for easy fitting! Thank you for the huge St Patrick’s Day package!

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)

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

If you have a problem you can’t solve – just look for another one!

US and German programmers were asked to solve this important, complex problem. It’s a bit of a competition. Both the Americans and the Germans want to demonstrate that they are the better computing experts. The Americans get going and in little time they unveil their solution. It kind of works, but has some bugs and some problems that will need fixing. The Germans sit down, analyze the problem and draw up a specification. That gets reviewed, approved, and passed on to the implementation specialists. Their solution is impeccable. Everyone likes it. Only that by the time it’s ready, the problem had changed. – The moral of the story is that sometimes you are better off to get going, even if you are not sure yet where you might end up.

There is another story about a young man who couldn’t wait. He really wanted to get married. As soon as possible. But when he says to Friar Lawrence, who had agreed to help him and Juliet, “Oh, let us hence. I stand on sudden haste”, the friar answers, “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.”

To be honest, I have always been the person that ‘run fast’. I always had a go at a good idea, dealing with the consequences later. In most cases, it worked out, and I did not stumble. And when I did, I got up and tried again.

When the sky falls, we will stand tall, face it all together. The sky fell, I am trying to stand tall, which is much harder in ‘real life’ than in the movies, I am stumbling all the time. What makes me get up again is you, the people that occasionally read these ramblings, the people that send messages of support, the people that come to visit, the people that think of and pray for Pádraig.

Today, he was a bit more alert than last week. Maybe he is getting ready for Lá Fhéile Pádraig.

When I think about it, whether you plan what you’re doing and think before you get going, or whether you are someone that gets so enthusiastic about an idea that plans would just stand in the way – it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you do what you believe is the right thing to do. And that, when it doesn’t work out, or when you fail, when you stumble, that you gather all of your strength and get up, trying harder than ever before. With the help from your friends, if you’re a lucky as Pádraig. Sure, what would be the alternative.

Today’s German Music Tip
Marianne Rosenberg, Er gehört zu mir (1975). Well, Marianne and her music was not everybody’s cup of tea. Back then, you couldn’t really admit to like her or her music. This was far, but very far too conservative and establishment. Compare this song to the one by Ina Deter from a few days ago which was only published a year later and you’ll understand why. When I found it, for some reason, it brought back memories…

Walking on the beach in the middle of nowhere – a solitary bin for ‘Restmüll’!

What’s hot
Wise and slowly
What’s cold
Panic
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Restmüll

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

We’re approaching St. Patrick’s Day. We did have good intentions. Plans. We were going to dip the White Haus 2 into green floodlight. Now, it looks like as if this brilliant idea might just remain that: a brilliant idea. No floodlights to be seen anywhere. We kind of gave up on them. We needed a fallback. Then, thankfully, some friends sent over an envelope. A family member brought over another bag. Both full of St. Patrick’s Day goodies.

So this afternoon, we decorated Pádraig’s room and I took a few pictures. Then, as I was looking around, I noticed that the staff must have been really busy preparing for St Patrick’s Day too: so many green things everywhere: plugs, measuring tapes, linen bags, tubes, lift buttons, charts, even the graphs on the monitors – all had changed to green!!! By now I know how nice the people looking after Pádraig are, but I had no idea that they would go all the way and turn the whole place green, inside out. Still white from the outside – inside, it’s green!!!

They say a picture can say a thousand words. I couldn’t make up my mind about which picture to post, so here are they all!!!

Pádraig is taking the preparations for his big Saint’s Day in his stride. Pretty relaxed, not too excited. Like most days this week. But I am sure, he’s looking forward to his big day on Monday!!!

We all desperately want Pádraig to get better. He has the courage, strength, and will power to see this through, and to emerge as his old self again on the other side. No doubt.

Pádraig is doing ok, nothing radically new, nothing good or bad. He is cooperating well when he is getting his teeth brushed, i.e. he opens his mouth patiently until it’s all done. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s progress. Also thought today, that he hasn’t had an x-ray for a long long time – again, nothing major, but really good considering how things were just a few weeks ago.

Patrick’s Day is approaching and the first postcards and packages arrived. We had great plans ‘painting’ the ‘white house’ where Pádraig is being looked after so well green next Monday. Still thinking about it, but we might have to scale back just slightly…

Tonight, some news on what has been happening during the week:

• The Taoiseach answered our open letter to him on 10 March.
• The Irish Daily Mail published a full page editorial with our letter to the Taoiseach on 11 March.
• Pat and I published a statement in reply to the Taoiseach’s response.
• Mary Lou McDonald wrote to the Taoiseach and raised the issue with the Department of Health.
• Councillor Noel Rock raised the issue with the Taoiseach and asked Senator Paul Bradford to raise the issue in the Seanad.
• Pat and I will be on the Late Debate on RTÉ Radio 1 on Tuesday, 18 March, 22:00.

Loads of things happening. Plenty of visitors arriving for St Patrick’s Day – which we usually spent watching the parade in Fenagh, Co. Leitrim, at the Cross Roads.

I must thank Maitiu and the Bonny Men for sending on their music – and a live video for him which I hope to be able to share with you soon. The song is ‘Colours’ – and it’s about ‘the morning when we rise’ – what a brilliant song for Pádraig, and so brilliantly performed!

For all who contributed to the playlist for Pádraig, here it is (please comment if I left something out!), with anonymised comments:

On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons

Little Talks by Monsters and Men
I remember well from last May when we finished our finals from college “little talks” by Monsters and Men was the song, Pádraig was always requesting. I hope to get up to Hamburg soon to see him again.

Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine
…Pádraig claiming ‘Wagon wheel’ by Old crow medicine to “probably”(!) be one of his favourite songs ever.

Time to Pretend by MGMT
Also another one that comes to mind is ‘time to pretend’ by mgmt-in 1st year of college, we were talking one night about how much we both really liked the song and then one morning a while after this i awoke to see that I had a voice msg from padraig consisting solely of this song being performed live at their concert!

Crossfire by Brandon Flowers
I’m sure you’re well aware of these tunes Pádraig likes, but they are evocative of the year we spent in the Scéim together because he played them all the time. And I mean ALL. THE. TIME!!!!! Anyone in the scéim would testify to that!

Ní Tú Mo Ghrá by Mo Hat Mo Gheansaí
As above

The Trailing Skirts of God by Bell X1
And of course Bell X 1, the upbeat rocky ones of course, but he pointedly sat me down and dissected the lyrics of “Trailing Skirts of God” once, impressing on me how good the lyrics were.

Dream of Flying by Brian Crain
We listened2this type of thing lying on the floor of the Sceim pondering life

‪Starships by Nicki Minaj‪
He was obsessed with this in San Diego and played it again and again and again. He got annoyed if anyone tried to change it.

Mexico by Mundy
Also Mundy’s Mexico always makes me laugh because it reminds me of when he told me that he went to Mexico because he liked the song so much.

The Great Defector by Bell X1
I know some of these have already been mentioned–but Pádraig introduced me to Bell X1–(Meaning–he asked me how could I NOT know who they were?!?! and then made sure I had listened to their best before leaving Dublin)–in particular the song “The Great Defector,” which he had on repeat. He even took the time to break down the lyrics and make sure I knew what a “cornetto” was since we don’t call them that in the states to ensure I understood just how great the lyrics truly are!

Human by The Killers
Also, The Killers’ “Day & Age” album which he was obsessing about while at UK back in the day.

Spaceman by The Killers
See above.

This is Your Life by The Killers
Another night we were in his house and I was saying the Killers were good but heard they weren’t so good live, he stopped me there, put on a dvd of them live at The Royal Albert Hall saying they’re incredible, he particularly loved the crowd waving arms during ‘This is Your Life’

Boys Don’t Cry by The Cure
Loads of the songs that have already been mentioned epitimise the year on the Scéim and one more that stands out is The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry. We spent an AWFUL lot of time in Whelans over that year and this song is the quintessential Whelans song for a lot of us – An bhliain is fearr riamh inár saol!

Velcro by Bell X1
Also I remember walking home with him after a night out a couple years ago, I put on the radio on my phone for part of the walk, the 1st song that came on was ‘Velcro’ by Bell X1, as soon as he heard it told me to turn it up and started singing it saying it was one of his favourite songs.

Just Say Yes by Snow Patrol
He loved a lot Snow Patrol’s songs, ‘Just Say Yes’ springs to mind, can still picture him dancing to it.

===> Well, the CD is in his room and we’ll play it every day. Funny thing is: I see him dancing and singing when I listen to this really great music – and my body drains, like as if someone had pulled a string and all inside of me was flushed out. Why am I getting sad? We are humans. Pádraig is with us. Right bang in the middle. And we are dancers. Always!

Böll died the year I got married. Like many Germans, my love for Ireland developed when reading his Irish Journal. Böll had a cottage on Achill Island and published the Journal the year Pat was born. So there are many connections. (There are always connections if you search long enough.) One of Böll’s most famous stories, however, is his “Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral“, or: Anecdote Concerning the Lowering of Productivity”. He wrote it for a May Day programme for the NRD, the Norddeutscher Rundfunk in 1963, the same radio station from where Pat gave the interview on Cormac ag a Cúig about a week ago. (Yet another connection.)

Yesterday’s post made someone think of this story, and when I read it again today, I felt a rush, an urge, a spirit, like that of many years ago. In short, it’s a story about a fisherman looking relaxed out at the sea and a stranger telling him that if he only took advantage of the ideal whether conditions and worked really hard, he could earn so much money that he could then retire, relax, and just look out at the sea on days like these – to which the fisherman responded: that is exactly what I am doing right now.

People say it in different ways. Life is not a rehearsal. It is always “now”. There is no future that’s going to be better. If you want change, change now. Nobody ever said on his deathbed: had I only worked harder and stayed more time in the office. We are social, we think, we are free.

The trouble is, that it might sound and seem, cool and romantic to think that way when things go more or less in the right direction. When life has just stopped and you wonder why the world’s hasn’t stopped too, it takes a lot to think and feel that way: that, ultimately, you are in charge, not of what happens to you, but of how you deal with it. Opting out is not an option. You are social. Never alone. Not out into the wild. You are your family, your friends, your neighbors. What helps me is stepping back, from a distance the world looks blue and green, and for moments I feel like Böll’s fisherman, unable to understand what all our common worries are about.

When we were with Pádraig today, he was grand. He opened his eyes when we got into his room, he reacted with his hand when we were talking to him or asked him to give us a squeeze, as almost every day, and his general condition was good. I finally managed to  get all the song you proposed together onto a CD. A lot of it is really good music for dancing. As many of you, when i listened to this music with him today, I could see him dancing, and was wondering whether that is what he saw too,

One day, after the rose garden, we will have a big party, with plenty of food and drink, and the best of music. We’ll learn the lyrics off by heart. We will sing them along while dancing the night away, not worried at all about tomorrow, living in the now.

Wenn du so bist wie dein Lachen,
möchte ich dich wiedersehn,
krumme Dinger mit dir machen,
streiten über tausend Sachen,
mit dir schwimmen nach Athen.

—

Wenn du so bist wie dein Lachen,
würd ich für dein Wohlergehn,
daß die Knochen nur so krachen,
auf dir Purzelbäume machen,
und dich kitzeln an den Zehn.

Today’s German Music Tip
Ina Deter, Wenn Du so bist wie Dein Lachen (1976). Incredible, but true: this song came 10th in the competition to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest. In my Cologne Wohngemeinschaft being able to sing along Ina Deter’s song was a prerequisite, for the girls; boys had to be able to hum along, at least. I had completely forgotten about this music.

What’s hot
Time
What’s cold
Arbeitsmoral
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Abstellgleis

Twitter: @forPadraig
#caringforPadraig
http://www.caringforPadraig.org
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One night on the Late Late Show, some mad man said he was going to get water and plastic bottles, fill the plastic bottles with the water, and then sell the bottled water. The whole country went hysterical with laughter. It went on for the whole night, and all of the following week. Did you hear the man on the Late Late saying that is going to sell bottled water? Would you ever…! Who on earth would pay for bottled water when you just had to open the tap to get the same stuff for free?

A few year later on, supermarkets have isles full of water, water from Ireland, from Italy, from France, from I don’t know where. And people buy it. A lot. Someone had done some magic.

For me, this is a perfect example of how we are working hard, to earn as much money as possible, which we will then spend on stuff that we could get for free – which renders a lot of our money and all the time we spend at work to earn it, pretty useless. What if we decided to work less, earn less money, and only buy what is not free and less of it. It would probably bring down the economy, but it would very likely make us happier people.

Pádraig’s friends told me a few things about him recently which I had heard about before but which had not really registered: apparently, he is the only person they know (or just one of very few) who would use a disposable camera. He also never wanted a smartphone (a phone is a phone and not a computer). He is, they said, someone who had an opinion of his own about things, a sense of right or wrong, and it didn’t matter whether that was popular or not. Try to make sense out of this: if you didn’t know Pádraig, you’d think they were talking about a person from the ‘old’ school, not a fun-loving, full of energy being, singing and dancing a 23-year old.

When I went into Pádraig’s room today, it smelt really nice but I couldn’t make out what it was…

He was good today, struggling his way through long days, hard work with the therapists, sitting in the viva-la-Thekla with bare legs – it’s so warm here. The sky is blue, the first buds are out, there is summer in the air. Voices are coming up into his room from a downstairs balcony. Trains rush by in the distance, the S1 into town in one, and to the airport into the other direction. Birds are singing. One thing he was doing really really well today was swallowing – and while this doesn’t sound very impressive, if he manages to swallow well, he’ll be able to get rid of the tracheostomy, definitely.

Later it turned out that, in the morning, therapists had turned Pádraig onto his stomach for about 20 minutes or half an hour, yet another first, and Pádraig being the tall man he is, not so easy to do! But lying on your stomach should stimulate your swallowing. With Pádraig it seems to have done the trick!

Another really nice thing today was that the nurse that has been looking after him more than anyone else lately, had tried to stimulate his sense of smell with some different oils. Amazingly, the one he reacted to most (and the one I had smelled when I came into the room) was lavender – which is not just Pat’s but was also Pat’s mother’s favourite flower and smell. Someone had done some magic today.

Tonight, instead of the Today’s German Music Tip – a clip for our non-Irish-based friends, and our younger friends, who have never seen the ‘real’ Late Late Show, the worlds longest running chat show: the intro.

What’s hot
Water
What’s cold
Bottled water
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Mensch Meier, das ist ja ‘n Ding!

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