Hippy Times #12 … 🏋🏻‍♀️

First morning in our Airbnb in Darlinghurst.  Very close to the gym. I had a chat with Lexi yesterday who confirmed she was still having a session with our PT this morning and they would be training the back.  I didn’t say anything yesterday but I think I will join the session.  Up early and off to the gym – how good does this feel.  I know it’s only been a bout 10 days since I was in the gym but for those of you who know me well, it feels like a lifetime so I am very excited.

It’s a big surprise for everyone concerned – Phil, Lexi and others there that know I have been through an operation.  So, with a few adaptations, all goes well and I manage to use all the required equipment without sitting in positions that may be detrimental to my new hip.  It was a really great session.  At 7 am, Phil is training my friend Kath who is competing on 21 April.  Each week before her session there’s a bikini check-in to see how she’s looking and so Lexi and I always like to see as well and take photos to send to Kath so she can have progress on record.  That done, I am meeting Anthea for breakfast at Kepos Street Kitchen.  David has been over to Gadigal Avenue on Scootie, because we left the car there due to lack of parking around Darlinghurst.  He’s back now to pick me up and drop me off at breakfast.  Have a great breakfast with Anthea, as always.  We have lots to catch up on, her renovations, her new job, my operation etc etc and  before we know it, there’s an hour gone.  Anthea hands me a gift – it’s a going away gift which is very well received and I say that I’ll open it later.

Just before I had my hip done, my surgeon, Dr Nick Vertzyas, told me that the leg they operated on would be a little longer!  Well, it is definitely longer and I think although I can feel it, it isn’t noticeable.  However, I can definitely feel it when I stand still and also a little bit when I walk.  It is a constant battle not to limp as I was in so much pain prior to the operation, and I want to preserve my new hip, my natural instinct is to limp.  I am carrying / using my walking stick to take the weight off the leg when I walk / get tired.  My feet really swell up when I spend too much time standing but as soon as I sit down and raise them slightly, it soon goes down.

When we checked into the Airbnb yesterday, horror of horrors, there is no microwave!  We had given our microwave to Lexi so I had sent her a Whats App message last night asking if we could please borrow it back for the duration of our stay at the Airbnb.  David picks me up from breakfast and we go off to Bondi Beach to collect the microwave to use at the Airbnb.  On the way back, we stop at Edgecliff Coles to get some groceries then it’s back to our temporary home.

We are out for lunch today at The Rocks Teppanyaki – we have had a Groupon Voucher for a while that we haven’t used and it expires on Saturday so we have decided to use it today.  We drive down to The Rocks – it’s not easy to park but eventually we find a spot near The Australian Hotel and it’s a slow walk back to the restaurant.  The chairs are a reasonable height but it’s hard to extend your leg outwards because the teppan table has a solid base but with a little manoevering I get comfortable.  The food is delicious – every single mouthful.  After lunch, David has to go back to Gadigal Avenue to pay the cleaner, let the carpet cleaners in, drop the hire car back, drop the apartment keys into the real estate agent and empty the mail box – the final few chores.  He drops me home first and I can do my rehab exercises for my hip whilst he’s away.

The rest of the day is spent with my leg raised as it’s now a little swollen, watching a really great series, Level, on Netflix.  It’s a snack for dinner as we’re not very hungry after our lovely lunch.

Thursday morning and a second session at the gym – shoulders today.  I’m feeling more and more normal every day.  Have a quick coffee catch up with Lexi afterwards and then it’s home for breakfast.  It’s lovely sitting out in the back courtyard – so peaceful after moving from the Gadigal Avenue apartment where no mater what time of day or night, you could always hear traffic especially from the main Eastern Distributor.  Sitting out in the courtyard in the sun and reading – great way to spend a morning.

I have a hair appointment at 2 pm and so have worked out where to get the bus, time etc.  I wander up to the bus stop, this is a first, getting on the bus, sitting appropriately, having the walking stick etc.  So, waiting at the bus stop, here comes the bus.  Hmmm the bus driver stops the bus about 50m from the stop and I have to waddle down to it – he advises he couldn’t pull up closer because of a parked car that would stop him from manouvering out after pick up.  Is the car parked in the wrong place, has the ‘No Parking Bus Zone’ not been made big enough or is the driver just no good?  Who knows.  It’s only a few stops down the road to Saba Hair on Crown Street and the stop is almost outside the door – very convenient.  After I have my hair done, I decide to grab a cab to get home as the bus is 10 minutes away and I can be home by then.  The cab stops as I hail it, middle of Crown Street where the road is too narrow to pass.  Patient drivers needed here as it takes me a little longer than normal to get into the seat.  On board and away we go – I text David and tell him I’m on my way and to make some tea.

Nice cup of tea in the courtyard, a short while to relax and then we get ready to go out.  David has watered all the plants at the house today and hosed down the courtyard.  While I am sitting in the lounge waiting for David, Jason (one of the owners) comes by to collect the mail and see that we have everything we need.  He notices that we have watered his plants and I think he is super impressed that even though we are there for a short time, we treat this house as if it were our own.  Jason and I chat, he and his partner Dave are off to HK for a long weekend over Easter and he tells me that Dave became an Australian citizen yesterday and it’s his birthday at the beginning of Easter and so it’s a way of celebrating all those things.

We are off to meet Heidi, Jason and Tilly for dinner who are here from the US for a few days.  It’s been ages since we saw the whole family.  They have an Airbnb in Riley Street so we walk down there.  I’m leaning on my walking stick heavier than I have been for the last couple of days because I’m not sure how far we are going to have to walk to dinner etc.

It’s so good to see them and little Tilly is growing so quickly.  She’s just 1 now and is standing and pulling herself from sofa to table, smiling, laughing and generally entertaining us.  A glass of wine and then we decide to walk down to Woolloomooloo and find some food.  We end up at The Tilbury.  The food is great, the staff are so engaging and friendly and everyone loves Tilly who turns out to be a real flirt with the French waiter and we have a great evening.

Heidi and Jason weren’t aware that trading hours on Good Friday are non existent in terms of bottle shops and supermarkets.  They are planning to entertain tomorrow so we leave the restaurant to find a bottle shop and go to Woolworths so that they can get essentials to get them through Good Friday.

We leave them at Woolworths and walk back to our temporary home.  It’s a reasonable amount of walking for me this evening and I can’t wait to get my shoes off.  We watch another episode of Level and then off to bed.

I’m not sleeping well at the moment.  The house has no air conditioning but that seems to only be part of the problem.  Perhaps it’s just that my body hasn’t settled into a new routine, perhaps it’s that I’m not doing a whole heap of stuff in the day so not very tired, perhaps it’s the cortisol tablets I am taking or perhaps it’s a mixture of everything.  Whatever it is, I’m not stressing about it because my body will take sleep when it needs it and I don’t need to worry.  The pattern has been to go to bed and get perhaps 2 or three hours.  I am then wide awake so I get up and go to the lounge – either to write this blog, watch some property or renovation programs on TV, have a cup of tea etc and then an hour or so later, have a couple more hours sleep on the sofa – works for me right now. The sofa seems to be the ideal spot for my hip/leg, really comfortable with a couple of cushions under my knees.

Hippy Times … 🏋🏻‍♀️