The shop where the bike was bought said ‘bring it in tomorrow’. The owner of the shop down the road said ‘Ah sure, its almost half five and I’m closing up. Bring it in tomorrow’. I had explained that the race is tomorrow and that it was just a change of break pads – which I had in my pocket but could not change myself. And then: a really nice young man in the third shop said ‘sure, bring it in’ and then changed the pads in 2 minutes. He wouldn’t take any money. Nor would he when I came in a second time when I needed help adjusting one of the breaks themselves. (Note: *not* my bike, not my race:)

 

Isn’t it amazing that shop #1 and shop #2 are still around? I mean, would you ever really go back to them? I mean, I am the customer, I’m going to pay, I need their help, I’ve even bought products worth hundreds of euros from them. And then they don’t have 2 miserable minutes? I had to think of insurance companies who charge their loyal customers (who don’t shop around at renewal date) twice the premium they charge new customer (who do shop around). They take your money and run…

The philosophy seems to be (like with the Irish water charges): if you’re stupid enough to pay (or stick with a bad service) you don’t deserve any better.

When the approach should be that relationships are valued, people are supported (not exploited) and charges are levied fairly. But, of course, that approach is fast disappearing. Sadly.

Pádraig had the therapy session of his life today. He even continued practicing by himself with some exercises when the therapist was just chatting to him and us about how he could be working out on his own.

We have decided to look for more therapists and also for carers ourselves. People Pádraig needs and people he would be happy to work with, to spend time with – and vice versa. I started with a search for occupational therapists (OTs) sending out many emails to professionals listed on their association’s website. Receiving very few positive replies. Though some were promising.

I’ll do a similar search for carers. And speech therapists. Maybe there is someone out there looking for a job, Maybe someone from abroad would like to come to Dublin for a while? – Who knows…

It’ll have to be someone with an “old-fashioned type” of attitude and outlook, with a sense of service and responsibility, someone who’d understand Pádraig’s interests and shared them, with a good sense of humour and a caring heart.