Never thought I would, but tonight I was thinking – well, RTÉ is not that bad:) How come? Well, I was watching German TV. Well, I was trying to watch German TV. Maybe Tuesday night is a bad night. A really bad night. It was so bad it was almost funny. Incredible. And there were not just a few dozen, or hundred, or thousand, but probably hundreds of thousands, if not million of Germans watching this! Nobody would accuse Angela Merkel of being exciting (I think?) or even entertaining – and tonight on Germany’s state-owned TV channels, it felt as if they had dramatised Angela’s life (if ‘drama’ and her life is not a contradiction in terms). I thought of RTÉ, because someone had sent me a link to a new (?) Irish group that performed on last Friday’s Late Late Show, The Riptide Movement’s new single “All works out“.

I can’t bear to see you in this way
Your heart is heavy
Your eyes pain to see
I know you feel lost
I know you feel scared
I know you feel down
I’ll be with you every step of the way
Tomorrow’s another day
It all works out

What a great song and great lyrics. You could forget it was the Late Late Show:)

photo 3Today was the big day. When we arrived, Pádraig’s nurse was looking at us, then proudly looking into Pádraig’s room. Before we could see him, I knew what had happened. And I was right. Pádraig, the tall fellow, was sitting in a wheelchair! Slightly too small with a few bits and pieces that didn’t really fit (more “Nachsprung” than “Vorsprung” durch Technik) but, nonetheless, he was finally sitting in a wheelchair. It was brilliant. No more waiting for the viva-la-Thekla to arrive, just a lift into his wheelchair. With a bit of luck (and enough staff being available), every day. Which is exactly what he needs.

After four (!) hours sitting out, and back in his bed, he did another just over 30 minutes of ‘cycling’ on the MOTOMed-viva-2! Didn’t seem to bother him at all. To the contrary, judging by his hear beat and oxygen levels, it really helped him to breathe, process the air and the oxygen, and relax.

Pádraig is also swallowing much better, we feel. Tomorrow is our weekly meeting with Pádraig’s speech therapist when we hope that he’ll get the go ahead to start using the speech valve on a daily basis. I know he is ready. I know that he needs to feel that people believe in him being able to take all this on. I know that he’ll be well able to manage this. No doubt. It all works out!

Today’s German Music Tip
Jan Delay, Türlich, türlich (2013). – Not really a great recording, but a bit of an impression of how the Hamburg Media School take their coffee break during one of their events on (where else?) the Große Freiheit 38 just off the Reeperbahn.

What’s hot
Wheels
What’s cold
Barriers

The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Türlich, türlich, sicher, sicher, alles klar (auf der Andrea Doria)