The infection markers are going down. There will be an ‘interim’ wheelchair on Monday. If he does well with the speech therapist this coming Wednesday, he will be able to use the speech valve more than just once a week. No viva-la-thekla, but start of the Giro d’Italia in a room in the Schön-Klinik today – just over 3km, the computer said.

Have been checking the weather forecast for Hamburg all week and it seems that this coming Sunday it’ll be dry and cold-ish. Ideal marathon weather. Cian is aiming at <4hrs. I’m aiming to arrive. It’ll be great fun.

Pádraig’s friends at Aer Lingus Swimming Club will be organising a raffle at their annual Gala over the weekend of which they will take a part and contribute it to Pádraig’s fund. They have also organised an ice-cream van who will contribute part of its profit to Pádraig’s fund. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for good, hot weather in Dublin over the weekend, and a cool but dry day on Sunday in Hamburg.

Tonight, my head feels empty. Can’t think of German songs worth sharing, smart German words, or ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ topics. I’m wondering for how long our changed life has been going on, if I have really grasped what it means. I am not asking for how long our changed life will last. It sounds like a shallow phrase to say that it will never be the same again – because no-one’s life will ever be the same.

Tonight, I am ready to shut down, to not to think, to not to wonder, to go to sleep and deal with whatever the world has decided to throw at me tomorrow.

Besos y abrazos. Good night.