Loads of meetings and talks over the past two days. It is good to do ‘normal’ things though I wonder… For example, this morning I bought a coffee in the cafeteria in UL where my office is. It was €1.85. Going up to our meeting, I bought another coffee in the same cafeteria and I paid €1.65. The first was a ‘sit-down’, the other was a ‘take-away’ coffee. No other difference. Then I looked at the prices of stuff on offer. Remember, this is the university, most clients are students.
In case you can’t read it: Can of Coke €1.20; Smoothie €3.45; 7up €1.70; and – talking about water charges – a bottle of water for €1.70. The coke is cheaper in a corner shop, and the water is cheaper in the airport.
Then I bought the paper and got a brilliant Martyn Turner’s 2015 calendar with it for free. For each month, there is a cartoon, with a bit of an explanation underneath.
Underneath the cartoon, he writes that he was asked once to draw a cartoon for Christian Aid. Apparently, if all the multinational companies operating in Africa were made to pay their taxes their, there would be no need to pay rent. Turner connects this to Apple in Ireland…
Pádraig was good when Pat got back this evening. She told him a few funny stories, things that had happened here in Ireland. And for each of the four stories, she got a gerat smile. So, not only did he understand what Pat was telling him, he also still has his sense of humour.
It is great to be here, to see (or at least speak with:) our daughters, and just to be at home. But it’s also as sad as it can get. There is Pádraig’s room with is stuff. When I was cooking for us tonight, I could here the door to the kitchen being pushed open and a big guy coming in asking what was for dinner and when would it, eventually, be ready… How can he be in Hamburg, in a hospital, in a bed?
Hospi-Tales 
Hello, Reinhard. I note your mention of the kitchen door being pushed open … all I can offer just now is a virtual hug, but it is a very big one (x all your many friends … but here my Maths ability gives up the ghost). With every best wish, as always. Louise.
Hello Louise, thank you for your good wishes and the (virtual) hug. You know that it is those hugs that keep us going. And it goes way beyond that. I think that this community of friends that has gathered around Pádraig is such a brilliant example of how people help each other when help is needed, in so many different ways. I have managed to get through the emotional roller coaster of the past months because of you, of Pádraig’s friends. I know that this is true for Pádraig too and for the whole family, and – I believe – for all of his friends too. We are all one.
Hello Reinhard. Forgive me if you received a blank or half written message the other day. I’m afraid my iPhone is too newfangled for me. I’ll try again. I wanted to say that I think of you and Pat often and am full of admiration for the magnificent care you are taking of Padraig. It is thanks to you and your family and friends along with the hospital staff that he continues to make such remarkable progress . The strain for you and Pat must be enormous and yet you stay strong and dignified and wholly focused in your goal. What magnificent parents you are! I continue to remember you all in my prayers and wish Paidrig continued recovery
I think the message arrived, at least almost, intact, Rosemary. What you are saying is very kind. In my own mind, I don’t feel like that at all and can always think of other things that could be done. There are so many things I’ve, we have, learned over the past months. The most important lesson, probably, has been that we are never alone, that no matter how bad things turn, people will help each other. That what is in the news and what we read in the paper does not reflect the way people are. People are good.