“The goal falls short of the reach” – Do we achieve more than what we aimed for?
It’s Palm Sunday today but also, as a friend reminded me, Passover, the Jewish Thanksgiving, when God told the Jews to stay in their homes while he sent a plague to wipe out the Egyptians
We have been staying at home. Kind of a prolonged Passover, hoping the plague will disappear eventually.
I think Pádraig is a bit bored. Nothing new you might say, if you’ve known him for some time. He had got used to a busy day, An Saol in the morning, Hyperbaric in the afternoon, visitors and visits.
We are still around and we hear and see a bit of neighbours and family, even from a distance. I suppose it could be worse. It can always be, as we have learned.
He is doing a new-ish exercise on the ground, pushing his right leg, the one he has the problem with, up and down an incline.
The idea is to push his right leg a bit out to the right so that his femur stays in the hip while he is exercising his muscles which will, once they get strong enough again, hold his leg in his hip. Great idea by the physio who has been working with him for years.
Since Pádraig started to have his hip problem, it became harder for him to cycle his MotoMed. He then got a new manual wheelchair which positions him just a bit differently in front of the MotoMed. And that small change made it even more difficult for him to cycle. But check out what he did during the week:
More balance of power between his two legs, more speed and more power than ever before. It’s moments like this that make me really happy. And him even more.
What does it make me feel like? –
Being endlessly bombarded with the number of deaths, the number of infected, the number of coffins, the number of stranded travellers, the number of harbourless cruise liners, the number of…
With nonstop warnings that I am not allowed to –
exercise outside for too long, be too close to others, visit others, get away from home for more than 2km, attend the dying, or their funerals….
That I should
wear gloves and a face masks, take every person as an infected threat to my health…
Leonard Cohen – The Goal
Or answer the phone
I’m going down again
But I’m not alone
Accounts of the soul
This for the trash
That paid in full
Began long ago
Can’t stop the rain
Can’t stop the snow
I look at the street
The neighbor returns
My smile of defeat
I shine with the chrome
I’m almost alive
I’m almost at home
And nothing to teach
Except that the goal
Falls short of the reach
Some of what I found in the news…
02 April 2020
BREAKING: COVID-19 death toll in Ireland rises to 98
Of the 13 that have died today, 9 are male while 4 are female, with a median age of 91.
Central Statistics Office (accessed 04 April 2020)
In the period 2010-2012, life expectancy at birth was 78.4 years for males and 82.8 years for females.
Journalists are helping to create a dangerous consensus
(Declan Lawn, Irish Times, 16.11.16)
We are getting ever worse at going against the dominant consensus. Fewer and fewer of us are anti-authoritarian enough and difficult enough to go with our gut and challenge the narrative. These days journalists are not rewarded for being difficult. A culture does not exist in which a journalist can render an alternative narrative without being dismissed as a loonie leftie or alt-right conspiracy theorist.
Hospi-Tales 
The cycling is so impressive!
The thing is, Donna, he has been cycling on the MotoMed for years. With his hip problems, that became very difficult. That day was so encouraging (and impressive!) because it was like in the ‘old days’. It was an exceptionally good day, but very encouraging. He keeps going and keeps trying and has good days and bad days. Pretty normal, really. (When you set aside the accident and its consequences.) Hope you’re keeping well these days.
I am so glad you have found the time and energy to write here again. We are well, thank you — I hope all of you are, also.
Reinhard Padraig
Isolation from a life at An Saol is beyond imagination and such a loss to you both and others too. I am pleased Padraig that you have an excellent physiotherapist who is willing to explore new methods in the hope of change going forward. I have to say your face, in this photo, albeit lying on the floor, has such an air of tranquility aboutit that it goes beyond a photo to a sense of warmth.
Keep engaged and although boredom is easy to fall into these days, you have overcome so many obstacles now that this is only a minor blip and your days at An Saol will return and your progress to.
Michelle Please Be Safe
Thank you very much, Michelle, for your very kind and encouraging words. I don’t think we ever met but it feels like as if we have known you for many years. You are an inspiration.