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 … 🏋🏻‍♀️

Monday morning waking in my own home, well for the next 48 hours anyway.  Until we move into our Airbnb location in Darlinghurst.  David is also up and about coz we have stuff to sort out today – removalists are coming tomorrow.

I do my exercises and David is doing some paperwork. Then it’s time for an early breakfast before we set to on various chores.

I am feeling pretty good today and my hip is calm, some of the swelling has subsided, but definitely not nearly back to normal yet – I have to remind myself that I have recently had the op and not try and do too much.

Now need to pack the suitcases full of the things that will travel with us.  How come you always think you have just the right amount of stuff but actually find that when it’s out of the wardrobe and into the suitcase, there is far too much stuff!  All the cabinets in the bathrooms are empty as are the wardrobes apart from what we will wear on Tuesday but the bags are creaking under the strain.

We decide that it’s fine for now, we can sort things once we are settled in our Airbnb and probably end up shipping another box of things to my Mum rather than taking them with us – excess baggage on the plane is soooo expensive that shipping boxes – even though it is by sea and takes anywhere between 78 and 90 days – is cheaper and will still be there in plenty of time for when we will need it.

We have decided that we will hire a car for Tuesday and Wednesday so that we can relocate ourselves to the Airbnb – it would take us a couple of trips in an Uber to do what we need to do and so for the cost of a small hatchback, we may as well have the use of a car for two days.  Online, let’s book it.  Firstly, we try to use some points for this purpose but why is it there’s never any availability or you need to pay and use points and it works out so expensive.  It’s cheap enough through Europcar to pay cash so we book through them as there’s a pick-up point just around the corner.  I choose a hatchback for ease of loading.

8 am and I decide to call Waratah Rehab to see if I can get my outpatient rehabilitation changed from Hurstville to Wolper in Woollahra as it’s much closer to home.  I relay my request to the lady on the phone and she says she will talk to the physio I saw at the weekend and get her to call me.

Lexi has quite a bit of stuff from us and hopefully Adries will be able to borrow a car and pick it up and transport to her house.

David makes me take regular breaks – just 20 to 30 minutes or so as if I am on my feet too long, I can feel my legs and feet swelling up.  The day just seems to glide by – it’s weird how you feel as though you are achieving heaps and then look around and there’s still heaps more to do – we know we’ll get it all done – because we have to but the sorting always seems to be endless. We have moved houses enough times now that we are pretty slick at the process but seriously, I have a minor panic each time always thinking we will never get it all done.

Haven’t heard from the removalists yet as to what time they will be arriving.  Initially we were told it would be around 8.30 am which suits us fine.  However, I give them a call just to check that they are actually coming.  They advise that the packers will be there between 1pm and 2pm the next day. That’s a lot later than we expected but gives us time to organise some more things in the morning so we can pace ourselves a little this evening.

Hippy has decided it’s time to rest as my leg and especially my foot starts to swell – I take a shower and relax on the sofa with my feet up.

I haven’t heard anything from Waratah or Wolper so follow up with a call.  The physio at Waratah advises that she will send over a referral to Wolper and then follow up with a phone call tomorrow to ensure that they act on the referral and call me.

Lexi comes around after work and we chat about her day and her training.  It’s strange but the anticipation of hearing about her training and also getting Instagram updates from Kath as to her prep progress, goes some way to alleviating the hole in my day where I would love to be at the gym but in all seriousness, should definitely not be at the gym yet.  I ask Lexi about Adries picking up her items the following morning but it seems that she has no idea what time, or even if he is coming.  I text him and he says he will let me know in 30 minutes or so.

David and I have a quiet evening in readiness for the frantic move tomorrow – Tuesday.

During Monday night, I move from the bed (such as it … a mattress on the floor) to the sofa.  I am cocooned in a blanket and lying on the sofa and find that I have the best night’s sleep I have had in a long time.  I woke up feeling that I really needed to roll over from my back to my side.  It’s not advisable to sleep on your side for the first 4-6 weeks after hip surgery so the easiest thing was to move location which kind of tricked my body into thinking it was in a different position and I dropped off almost immediately, not waking again until just after 6.30 am.

There was no news from Adries in regard to picking up Lexi’s items today so we decide that we will load them in the hire car and take them over to her place ourselves.  She will be at work but is leaving a key for us.

Once David has collected the hire car, it is loaded – I can’t really help with this as I can’t twist and turn and push and pull – need to be careful on what movements my hip makes as in the early stages of hip replacement there is an increased risk of dislocation.

David and I go off to Bondi to deliver the bits for Lexi.  We arrive at the house and my mobile rings.  It’s the removalists and they have just arrived at our place – only 2.5 hours early!!  WOW, almost unheard of but had to be the case that they arrive when we are not there.  We get access to the house, unload the car and then high tail it back to our place.

The Chess Removals van is parked on the footpath but I have booked parking in the loading dock for them so they move the van.  Just as we are about to walk away, this officious burly man comes along saying you can’t leave that there, we have garbage collection today’.  I explain that I have booked parking through the Ruby building management to which there is a tirade of expletives about what a d***head that bloke is and he shouldn’t be giving people permission as he is not in charge of the car park etc etc etc.  The poor guys from Chess take the van back out on the street – Ruby Building Management will be hearing from me as with the letting agent.  I’ll park that thought until I get a chance to log on and send the email.

For those of you that have moved house, you will know that every time removalists come, they look around the place, um and ah, grunt and groan and identify things they believe are not included and when challenged, go off and ring head office to find that everything is OK.  This has been the situation with nearly every one of our moves so it’s just a case of going through the motions – tiring but there it is.  We tell the guys that the two blue leather sofas are going to the rubbish pile in the loading dock – they flop down on them saying how comfortable they are and how good it would be to flop down on them with a can watching the game.  You can have them if you take them away today we say.  Disappointment clouds their faces – we’re so busy we have no way of taking them they say – oh well.

David needs to show them the stuff in the basement carpark in our storage cage. So, where are his keys?  He must have the lift swipe and the front door key somewhere because he came in just now.  He’s furious that he can’t find them, searching high and low and huffing and puffing with steam coming out of his ears, swearing and cursing.  Well blow me down – there they are, still in the front door – hmmmm.

By the time we have ‘gone through the motions’ with the removalists, David has packed the car with the stuff that is staying with us, it’s lunch time.  We decide to pop across to the Village Crown for some refreshment.  I need to take some medication so need to have something to eat.  We order an entrée size salt and pepper calamari to share.  I am sitting outside with my foot up on a chair as it’s started to swell, and David goes to get the drinks – he returns with a very large glass of Shiraz for me and some kind of frozen drink for him.  That consumed, it’s back to the apartment.  Good news the guys say, we will take those sofas.  Saves David the job of taking to the basement so that’s great.  The items in our storage cage have not changed since we moved in some 2 years ago.  Included there is one armchair, one hall table, one small drawer unit and three lamps.  The guys advise us that this is furniture and they have been told there is no furniture going so they won’t take it.  They have phoned Steve back at the office and he has confirmed this.  OK, give me Steve’s number and I’ll call him.

Check in time for the Airbnb is 2 pm so we decide to drive over and meet the host and keyholder, Dave.  We are there in plenty of time, the sun is shining and the property is situation in a backstreet mews area of Darlinghurst – so lovely, very quiet and yet right in the heart of inner Sydney.  We wait and wait.  Dave doesn’t show so we try texting and calling but to no avail.  I contact Airbnb who say they will reach out to him and see what is going on.  It’s now 2.30 pm. Finally, a response from Dave who says he forgot to text us and tell us that he wouldn’t be able to get away from work to meet us and we would need to get the keys from the lock box.  So simple when you are actually aware this is what needs to happen.

Dave is so very apologetic and offers us a cash refund of $100 which we accept telling him we’ll buy some champagne with it.  We wouldn’t normally take such an offer but having been standing around outside having just had a new hippy, I feel put out so take the offer as compensation.

Keys retrieved, we gain access.  It’s a cute little sandstone cottage, very cosy and welcoming.  David unloads the car and we decide that I should stay here and he will go and finish off at the apartment.  I do some of the unpacking – mostly the food into the fridge and freezer and then the bare essentials such as toiletries etc.  The cottage has a spiral staircase and there’s no way our big suitcases are going up there – that’s fine, we will manage somehow but figure it out tomorrow.  I need to sit down and get my foot up as it’s starting to swell again.  I put a load of washing on and move to the sofa with a cup of tea.

I have the doors and windows open as it’s such a lovely day its good to get the fresh air through.  ‘Hello’ I hear from the open front door.  It’s Jason who is Dave’s partner.  He comes in and says hi, asks if I need him to show me how to work the induction cook top to which I say no thanks it’s fine, tries to find the Wi-Fi details which should be on a card by the TV but they are not and then departs saying he is only down the road so will come back if there are any issues but will contact Dave about Wi-Fi etc.  I get a text from Dave with the Wi-Fi details and hey presto, we are online.  I settle back with my now cooling cup of tea.

Around 4.30 pm, I decide to see how long David thinks he will be.  No immediate response.  I remember then that I have not yet heard from either rehab centre so try to call – damn, they close at 4 pm.  Must remember to do that first thing in the morning.

Still no news from David so I call him.  The removalists have gone, the cleaners are there taking a look and he thinks he will be leaving in about 10 minutes.  Tells me he is very thirsty.  I had already put a bottle of Champagne in the fridge to celebrate the end of this phase and moving into the next great adventure of our lives but we don’t have any water or crackers for cheese and a few other essentials so a I make a quick dash to the convenience store.  Return to the house and unpack the few items and David arrives.

Great, cheeseboard at the ready, champagne at the ready, we go out to the courtyard and sit in the peaceful, calming surroundings and as you may well have seen on Facebook, probably devour the bottle of Bollinger in record time.

It’s curry for dinner which came out of the freezer the other day, when David sold it, so just needs reheating.  We sit with dinner on our laps as there’s no dining table and chairs except in the courtyard and as David is always prone to getting bitten by mozzies, we prefer to eat indoors.

Dave calls round with our $100 compensation – what a nice chap he is too.  We have a chat and then he leaves.  We find a really good series on Netflix called The Level which we haven’t seen before so watch a couple of episodes.  Or should I say one and a half coz during the second half of the second episode, I fall asleep…….. goodnight guys.

Hippy Times … 🏋🏻‍♀️