The rehab unit at Beleura is quite new and rather nice. Mind you, it is something of a forced march to get to Tony's room at the very far end of the corridor. Not such an issue for The Builder and me, but something of a challenge for Stella. We made her go back, when we left, in a ward wheel chair. But that's not an option for Stella when she is on her own. She's just going to have to take it slowly.
Lindsey and Emily came to visit Stella and Tony on Friday and then brought The Builder and me back to Melbourne. We stayed in another flat, because on this occasion both Emily and her friend were staying in Lindsey and Ian's flat (as, indeed, were Lindsey and Ian) and there really isn't room for six. They all went out for pizza with Ant and Jess. We amused ourselves in our rather nice little apartment, had fish and chips from the shop down below, had chocolate from the supermarket down below, had wine from ... Well - you get my drift. It's not absolutely an unalloyed Good Thing to have a series of shops, wine bars, cafes and takeaways under your feet!!!
Lindsey and Ian set off for Canada, via California, early on Saturday morning. Emily was also going to Canada, but on a separate trip and not until Sunday. We headed to Ballarat to play with Sam. I failed dismally at the whole "turning on the heating at the front of the house" thing, despite having been given instructions by Lindsey. Fortunately, I can still light a fire (I used the fireplace; I didn't just randomly light a fire in the middle of the lounge room!!) and the heating in the kitchen was working. Lindsey sent further instructions on Sunday morning, which worked. But we were heading back to Mount Martha, nice and early, for a Fathers' Day lunch. As many of the family who were available were intending to be there - including Tony who had been given a day pass from Beleura. It was a great, if somewhat noisy and boisterous, family lunch.
We had intended to head back to Ballarat after lunch, but there was an OT coming on Monday morning, with Tony, for a home assessment, so we decided to stay over and see what she had to say. In fact, she didn't have very much to say. She suggested a night light in the bathroom, along with a non-stick bath mat. She suggested a toilet surround rather than rails (if you put rails in you'd never be able to close the sliding door). And, in a burst of unlikely optimism, she suggested that we should clear paths around the unit so Tony could navigate around with the walker that we are fairly certain he will never use once he gets home. There's no news yet on when Tony is likely to come home, but we are not anticipating that it will be this week. He needs to get his strength back, and to sort out his balance a bit
You find us now back in the flat. Christina, Emily's friend, is still here until Friday when she returns to Townsville having completed her placement in Footscray. It was my intention to stay in Melbourne today, possibly having a potter around in the city, possibly not, maybe even buying some extra charger cords for our various devices (we have one each, but at the moment we have five devices between us and a couple of extra cords wouldn't go amiss.) However, my wallet decided to prolong its seaside holiday and hid in the back of Stella and Tony's car, along with a bit of shopping. I wouldn't worry so much about the shopping, which I don't urgently need. But it's a tad inconvenient not having my wallet. We will head down shortly to retrieve it. While we're there we'll drop in to visit Tony. We might even have a spot of lunch with Stella. Then we're here overnight and back to Ballarat tomorrow. For a few days, I hope.
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| Tony on Sunday, in his favourite chair at last |
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| Tony, Matt and William. Three generations, waiting for lunch :-D |
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