Whoever was walking the streets with a German flag on their shoulders, never mind one painted on their cheek, was definitely and without a doubt a neo-nazi. Who, in their right mind, would ever be proud again to be a German and wave the German flag to show it? “Die Ewig Gestrigen” we called them. People who were still dreaming of the big Germany, the one that had sent most of Europe and a good part of the rest of the world into the abyss. When I went on what would nowadays be called an ‘Erasmus’ to Spain, and my Spanish friends were telling me how organised and disciplined (in a good way) Germans were, I always said that it only appeared like that from the outside and that every country and every culture had their strengths and weaknesses. (It was still a ‘funny’ feeling to be caught up one day in Madrid in a huge demonstration commemorating the death of the Caudillo, driving this German registered VW beetle, and all the fascists ‘welcoming’ their German ‘supporters’ by beeping their horns and waving us on.)

But – things change, a new generation has a different view of history, and being proud of being German with flags on your windows, your car mirrors, your t-shirt, and – yes – on your cheek, is creating, again, this sense of belonging, and a sense of being proud of your country, even if it is Germany.

Today is a big day in Germany. There won’t be night shifts in many factories as people will get together and watch the match of all matches, the real word cup final, the epic between the host country Brazil and the all-time favourites Germany. It doesn’t really matter who is going to loose – it’s going to be a major disaster anyways.

In Dublin, we hear that people are really really really excited about these concerts – some saying that they want them all, some saying they want none of them. They don’t know that the real, the authentic, the biggest hit this summer will not be one about “If Tomorrow Never Comes” – to the contrary: it’ll be one about the power of dreams, about believe in yourself and what you can achieve, about a sign of things to come, with loads of people, loads of them, having some ‘serious’ fun!

The Dream Boat is getting ready. No official recording available yet, but a bit of the ‘Making of…’, a sneak preview of the song in the Conradh, can be watched on youtube already.

When we arrived at the hospital today, Pádraig was sitting in his wheelchair and the occupational therapist and physio were just about to leave. Everybody is really happy with the progress Pádraig is making. He has no problem using the speech valve for up to six hours now, three in the morning and three in the afternoon. He manages without a problem to sit for about four hours a day in the wheelchair. And he managed to cycle so fast on the MOTOMed-Viva2 on one of his Tour d’Schön races that it blew a fuse and had to be withdrawn from any races until further notice.

Tonight, we’re getting ready to take down the German flags in Pádraig’s room. But, ‘der Ball ist rund’ and anything can happen! Sure, we all know this – anything!