Tag Archives: Advent

With a Little Help—and Celebration—from Our Friends

24 Saturday Oct 2026

Posted by in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.
Cicero

This week’s news are a little longer than usual. There is —

  • The Coffee Morning on 31 October at 11, organised by our neighbours.
  • The news about Pádraig’s impressive improvements: writing, walking, and doing squats.
  • Tommy’s call for support. He will be running the Dublin Marathon raising funds for the An Saol Foundation (again).
  • Become a Friend of An Saol, invite 10 of your friends to join you, and get your ticket for the fabulous 2026 An Saol Foundation Adventfest TODAY. It will be an incredible evening – we will be joined by some of our Friends Around the World AND the 40 voices strong St. John’s Gospel Choir – singing in the season of Hope and New Beginnings.

Read on.

All of these events and activities are the perfect demonstration of the difference a community can make when people put their mind to it.

This is the power of us – of you!

Keep it up! Together we are creating an alternative. Improving happiness through friendship. Doubling our joy and dividing our grief.

Last Week

Here are some videos from last week. With the help of a specially adapted pencil and some support under his hand, Pádraig was perfectly able to write his name. He walked around 12 metres every day he attended An Saol, without any mechanical support. He did more than a dozen squats each day he used the Andago.

Pâdraig writing with the help of a pencil supporting his hand and fingers, He is doing this himself, with just a little external support for his arm and hand.
Pádraig walking in An Saol with the help of practitioners. He does this each of the four mornings he attends the Centre. He, and the practitioners, are getting better at it every day.
The Hocoma Andago is a device we hadn’t used often enough in the past. It took some time and a repeat visit by a German specialist for us to recognise that there are very many different ways the device can support our clients movements, not “just” walking. Here, Pádraig is doing squats.

Writing, walking, doing squats, strengthening his thighs, buttocks and hips, and improving his balance – it seems as if Pádraig gave the door that had just opened a little a big strong kick.

A Message from Tommy

Greetings – Yes! It’s that time of year again. Despite being around enough to know better, I’m lining up for another Dublin Marathon this Sunday. Apparently, 42.2km is still my idea of a good way to spend a (possibly very wet) Sunday morning!

This year, I’m raising funds for An Saol (again), a wonderful Irish charity that supports people living with severe acquired brain injuries.

As many of you know, my son Sean sustained a severe brain injury which changed his life, and our family’s life, forever. It’s given me a very personal understanding of the enormous challenges faced by people with these injuries and their families.

An Saol does fantastic work providing ongoing rehabilitation and support, based on a simple but important belief: people with severe brain injuries deserve the opportunity to continue developing, improving and living the best possible lives.

I’m also involved with An Saol as a board member, so I’ve seen firsthand the commitment of its team and the difference their work makes.

If you’d like to sponsor my efforts, here’s the link – donate here.

I know many of you have generously supported my marathon fundraising over the years, and I really appreciate it. Hopefully, your generosity will continue to outlast my knees !

Every donation, large or small, is greatly appreciated and will support a cause very close to my heart. Feel free to share with friends and colleagues.

Many thanks again for your support- donate here.

Tommy

P.S. My ambition this year is to finish in under four hours (unless it is wet!)

Celebrate with the An Saol Foundation an
Evening of Hope and New Beginnings!

Join 500 Friends Around the World!

(And make sure you become a Friend yourself. Invite ten of your friends to join you!)

Click here to get your free Adventfest ticket today

But please only book a ticket if you are sure you will be able to attend.

Watt

07 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by in North Sea

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

So watt?

Last night there was someone trying to play Neil Young (the younger) in Lütt Matten in Garding. You’ve probably been at gigs where you felt like “I could do this”. “Only better”. Last night was one of these nights. As much as I like Neil Young, it was also the wrong place for his (early) songs. And the performer was somehow stuck with the earlier Neil. Had he taken out the electric guitar, he would have had a chance.

Early this morning, we went out into the Watt. It’s different each time you go. Today, it was so windy that the ground seemed to be moving. Magic.

And, in the middle of it, in the middle of nowhere really, platforms on stilts, for the Strandkörbe, those big seats protecting beach goers from the wind in the summer. They are rented out by the day or the week. All deserted in the winter, of course. Imagine anything like that in Ireland.

Pádraig continues recovering well from his operation, the swelling on his head continues to recede, slowly but surely, he continues to breathe well for hours with the cannula in his trachea blocked off, and all his ‘vital signs’ are in the green – unless one of the sensors goes crazy.

He has some visitors from Ireland. Two old friends (hope they don’t mind me saying so:) who were his first swimming coaches when he was small. I know, it’s hard to imagine Pádraig was ever small, but he was. They have known him for a long, long time and have always kept in touch. What a great sign of true friendship.

When they left they said they would ask one of his swimming friends from way back then to visit him. And guess what: he smiled and ‘said’ “yeah”.

Today is, of course, the second Sunday of Advent. There is no better time to be in Germany than Advent, for atmosphere. Unless, of course, you wanted to be somewhere else, and with all of your family. One day.

Today’s German Music Tip
Radio. Geht ins Ohr. Bleibt im Kopf. Wattenmeer.
This is for an advanced lesson in German, really great for learning about “Kölsch” – not the beer, but the German dialect spoken in the Cologne region. It’s a play on the word ‘Watt’ – which means both ‘what’ (in “Kölsch”) and ‘mudflats’ (the mud flats covered and uncovered by the tidal movements of the sea – for which the north sea cost is famous). It’s a recording of a series of advertising radio advertising on German radio, if that makes sense…
There’s another one, for our English-speaking readers:)
What’s hot
Watt
What’s cold
North Sea water
The German word/phrase/verse of the day
Watt isn hia los? (‘Watt’ moved to the Ruhr:)