I will keep the best for last.

What would you’ve done? Today, I went to the bottle bank. And there it was again: the dilemma. They thought they had thought of everything: they had put up a bin for green glass; a bin for white glass; a bin for brown glass. Then one day, over the weekend, someone arrived at our bottle bank and was faced by a dilemma. Check out the picture. Focus on the plates. Their colour. And they sign on the bin: “Nur für GRÜNGLAS” (Only for green glass). What would you’ve done? Was the person who left them on top of the bin, neatly stacked, a German or a foreigner? Could it even have been an Irish person?

The speech of a 17-year old boy was re-printed in theJournal today, a speech about the suicide of his cousin: “My cousin Glen McNally’s body was found in the canal this week but he should not be dead.” Don’t read this if you are depressed already. But if you think you’d be strong enough – read it. “Rabia” is the Spanish word for what I felt (how do you say that in English, Ana?). “Outrage” probably comes close. Where is the outrage? Forget about Angela Kerns’ salary, forget about water charges, forget about politicians smiling into cameras for the upcoming elections. How can we allow this to happen, this abyss of life and death?

As promised, here is the ‘good news’ story, finally.

Schön is not the word to describe what happened today. Someone had decided that Pádraig could be use a speech valve for as long as he tolerated it. A speech valve is a valve that can be put on the tracheostomy. It allows a patient to breath in via the tracheostomy, but they have to breath out through the mouth and nose. Imagine, for 10 months you have essentially not used your mouth and nose for breathing (except for a few minutes here and there). That means you have (almost) no sense of smell, little sense of taste, and you cannot use your voice. You are essentially dumb. There is no air going through your mouth and nose into your lungs, no air passing your vocal chords. Ever. Then, all of a sudden, someone ‘turns on’ the air and it goes up your trachea into your mouth and nose, on its way passing your vocal chords.

One of the really caring, nice nurses today managed to help Pádraig with the difficult and tricky transition from no air to air passing out through his mouth and nose. It took a lot of courage and trust to be able to do this. Pádraig did not know what was going on. He did not like it because he did not know it. It clearly caused him discomfort at the beginning. But then, the unbelievable happened: he relaxed and adapted brilliantly. The oxygen went up to 99-100  (max), his heart was good and relaxed. He did not just manage, he embraced the speech valve and when we left just after 8pm, he had been on it for more than 1 1/2 hours, and kept going.

There were two good friends here visiting Pádraig over the past two day, two of the nicest people you could meet. One of them is about to start a job with a US company in Dublin and wanted to see his friend before he was going start a new job. He’ll be off to Boston for initial training the coming weekend and I wish him all the best!

Just heard late last night that Patricia Healy from Pádraig’s old CRC Swimming Club had organised a swim event yesterday. She is already planning a follow up. I am trying to get some details and pictures and will make them available. Pádraig, or Paddy, spent many years with Patricia and chief coach Mary as his swim coaches in CRC Swimming Club. We never realised then know how brilliant those years were. I am whistling. Da da da daa dada…  Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end.

Today’s German Music Tip
Good bye, Lenin – the score from the film of the same name. About a time that was not supposed to end.
“They’ve realised there is more to life than cars, VCRs and TV sets.” (26:30′)

What’s hot
Voice
What’s cold
Who could care less…

The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Ende gut, alles gut.