In that post three weeks ago I was also contemplating about what it is like for Peter and me to stay in our home and managing to do everything by ourselves. I thought about it that staying at home there are still many things we can enjoy if only we can make the time for it: Sitting in the sun. reading, writing, playing games, watching TV, going out for a meal or catch up with family! We also love just listening to music. So far, Peter is still able to drive a car. To go to places in our own car is a good thing because of the Coronavirus. Before the epidemy we always liked to use public transport when at all possible. We still try social distancing!
We also want to (or have to!) stay active as much as possible. But somehow we are always running out of time! I ask myself, why is this so? . . . .
These are the things we try to do: Looking after personal hygiene, walking in the open air, shopping for essentials, doing the most necessary housework and gardening. But it usually does not take long and we are so exhausted that we urgently need to rest for a while! This means each day we can do only a very limited amount of work. Each and every day we have to cut back on something that we would have liked to have done. If we decide to do something that we had been neglected to do for very long, something else that might be just as important, cannot be done by us on that day. We feel, that every day we have a bit less time. How is that possible? The question is, what is really most important to us that we still want to be able to do?
Another thing is medical appointments:
At times medical appointments do keep us very busy too!
I should have called this post RUNNING OUT OF TIME!
Peter discovers a rose in the park in front of the station.
The above pictures are from last Sunday when we took the train to Tempe to meet the family at the Concordia Club. We also took the train last Saturday going to Redfern for a W.A. Dowe Memorial Lecture. The speaker was our good friend Richard Lawrence Giles. The talk was about THE ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF LAND VALUE TAXATION and started at 2 pm. At a coffee shop near Redfern Station we had some coffee and cake.
Next time we are at this place I’d like to try some of the healthy things that are on offer for 6 Dollars: ‘Immunity Boost’, ‘Detox’, ‘Revitalise’, I think all this sounds good. We happen to know that a lot of university students and maybe teachers get off the train at Redfern to walk from there to Sydney University. Any coffee shops on the way would probably be patronised by some university students and teachers. In this particular coffee shop two very friendly young guys did look after the customers.
Today is Saturday again. We had been contemplating to go to Redfern today to watch a free movie. We did get an invitation to:
CINEMA ET SYMPOSIA. It is a seminar on film – based on Shirley-Ann Hardy’s book “Stolen Land, Stolen Lives and the Great Con Trick of Debt. It says a moderate discussion of the film follows. Free Admission. Refreshments Served. Time 2 pm – 4 pm.
Why did we not go? Simple answer: We needed to stay home to have a rest. Since Peter’s eye operation nearly two weeks ago our life has been a bit too hectic for our liking. After all we are not spring chickens any more! So what did we do apart from the two above mentioned train travels? Well, after the operation Peter went to see the eye specialist already three times for consultations! He also had to get a new referral from a GP (General Practitioner). On the day of the operation our daughter Caroline was able to stay with us. She did the driving to and from the hospital. It was great to have her around. In the evening Matthew joined us too and we had a good time together. Next morning C and M had to go back to their respective work. They keep themselves busy with working and studying.
The next day one of our neighbours inquired how Peter was going after the operation. We mentioned that the doctor in Figtree who had done the operation in Shellharbour Hospital , wanted to see Peter for post operative care. When the neighbour heard about this he was kind enough to offer us a lift to the bus stop. He even would have driven us to Figtree, but we said we would be all right catching the bus. On the way back we caught a bus which stopped a bit closer to home, so we did not have to walk very far. The operation had been on a Tuesday, the trip to Figtree on Wednesday, then on Thursday I found out that another neighbour, my friend Irene, was about to drive to Dapto Mall Shopping Centre. I asked her could I have a lift. When I told her I wanted to go for a haircut, she said to wait for her at the hairdresser’s. She would drive me back home then.
Irene parked in an area where it would be easy for her to drive out again. Apparently she is not all that confident yet with her parking. Her husband had been driving for all these years. When her husband recently died very unexpectedly it was up to Irene to get used to driving again. Irene gave me an idea. Maybe I was capable too driving to the Shopping Mall the way Irene did it? All of a sudden I felt I might be able to do it. I told Peter about it when it turned out Peter had to see his doctor in Figtree again on Friday. Surprise, surprise, I actually managed to drive the car to that beautiful parking spot on that Friday. From there it was not far to the bus stop. The following day, Saturday, I managed to park the car near Dapto Station. We left Dapto at 11,35 am and did not get back till nearly 7 pm. But fortunately it was still a little bit light and rained only a little bit. Something similar again the next day, on Sunday, when we caught the train to Tempe. We did get a lift back home in daughter Monika’s new car. Mark was the driver and dropped as off near Dapto Station where our car was parked.
Now to the second week after the operation. On Monday Peter had to go to the Medical Centre to get a new referral for the specialist. I drove him to the Dapto Mall Shopping Centre again. From there he could walk to the Medical Centre. On Wednesday, when Peter wanted to see his eye specialist once more for he still could not see very well with his right eye, well on Wednesday I parked the car in the Shopping Centre again. Just to make sure I asked Peter did he bring the referral from the GP. It soon was obvious that he had left it at home. So I drove back home with Peter. Peter found the referral at home. Then back to our parking spot in the shopping centre. We ran to the bus stop. Peter was sure the bus would have left without us by now. But he was wrong. Luckily the bus was running very late again. We were really lucky to catch it. Peter had thought it could not possibly be running that late. And it goes only once every hour!
We made it in time to the doctor’s appointment or 10 am. But we had to wait for quite a while. Several other patients were waiting for Michelle, the doctor. So Peter had to wait his turn. The bus going back to Dapto is also only once every hour. When we approached the bus stop to go back to Dapto it turned out the bus had left ten minutes ago. That gave us a lot of time till the next bus was due. We used the time to go for some lovely coffee and cake. 🙂
As I mentioned before we went to the Concordia Club in Tempe last Sunday. I found some more pictures from that day which I had not published yet. Here they are:
A picture inside Concordia Club
I took this picture because I thought it looked cute. I think I saw a Swiss flag inside the club. I am not sure where these traditional outfits are from. Maybe Switzerland or Bavaria or Austria? Anyway, I think these dolls look cute!
This sign is in the outside area of the club.
The Australian and the German Flag outside the Concordia Club
Michelle, the doctor, told Peter by the end of the week Peter can drive again. I think she meant by the end of this week. This kind of lets me of the hook. I have no vision in my left eye and Peter has at the moment hardly any vision in his right eye! Aren’t we a nice pair?! 🙂
By the way, we go to Martin Place when we see our dentist, and we go to Bondi Junction when we see daughter Caroline and Matthew. We are very happy that we have a good train connection from Dapto to Sydney. And a ticket for the whole day for public transport (that includes now buses) is for pensioners only 2,50 Australian Dollars! We really like this. 🙂
I’m a bit late with this post. More than three weeks have already gone into the New Year 2013. Here now I want to document what we did on the last day of 2012! Our day started with a trip to Bondi Junction, where we met our daughter. We had a cup of coffee with Caroline (sorry no photo). Then Caroline had to go shopping. We strolled back to the station. This time to a different entrance to the station, one that we weren’t familiar with yet. A beautiful large rest asrea opened up in front of us. Lots of different food and drinks were on offer at different outlets. In the middle of the plaza some delicious looking (homemade) ice-cream caught our eye. Peter and I each had a cup full of this very refreshing treat. It wasn’t expensive but tasted wonderful. There were plenty of seats everywhere to have a rest. We took the lift down to the platform. Only a few minutes and our train departed. We got off at Town Hall Station. Later on we looked at the displays of some cake-shops. We were hoping we would find some Berliners. It is our tradition to eat Berliners on New Year’s Eve. We had no luck. We couldn’t find any. We went back to Town Hall Station to catch our train to Dapto. While we were waiting for the train we took some photos. The trip to Dapto took nearly two hours. Some shops in Dapto Shopping Center were already about to close when we arrived there. We knew we had a bottle of Bubbly at home in the fridge for our end of year celebrations. But we were still without any Berliners. I felt a bit tired and was sitting down for a while. In the meantime Peter rushed into another shop that was still open. Surprise, surprise, he came out with some delicious looking Berliners in the form of stars! He got them at half price for they were the last ones that were left! At home we watched “Dinner for One”, which is a tradition with us to watch on New Year’s Eve. It is a sketch about Miss Sophie’s 90th Birthday. Very, very funny! We’ve seen it so often and every time we laugh our heads off again. Peter tried out to take a few pictures from the TV showing Sydney Harbour. At midnight he took also some pictures of the fireworks. Soon after we went to bed. But of course we did have our Bubbly and did eat the heated up little stars with it. They tasted delicious, just as good as the balls, called Berliners, do taste. Of course we did get messages and phone calls from our children before we went to bed, wishing us a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Today just a few photos of our third week in Berlin.
We had the good fortune to meet Lily Brett at a book reading in Berlin. She signed one book for us too!
Peter in a nearby park, called the Tiergarten.
It’s good to have some refreshments
The underground takes us everywhere quick smart
Despite many people using public transport and going around on bikes, one can see lots of cars everywhere too.
10 o’clock Sunday Mass at a close by Catholic ChurchOne of our visitors during the past weekAnother dear visitor we know from AustraliaYesterday we met another dear friend
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
AuntyUta 
