We had our second trip to Perth in 12 months at the end of March. Candy’s sister Heidi and her husband Marty were celebrating the birth of Cooper, their first child and newest addition to the clan. Congratulations guys! The trip over went quite smoothly, we were at the airport about 3 hours early to meet up with friends, but that fell through due to illness on their side. It was lucky we were there that early though, because by the time we’d lined up to check ourselves in, checked ALL our gear in, then lined up again at the special baggage desk to put all our gear on the plane, sorted out having an aisle chair ready at the gate and had a bite to eat, we were spot on time! It’s amazing how much harder and more work it is flying now I’m like this. Even getting on and off the plane takes ages, because although I get to board first (no lining up!), it’s a long time sitting there while everyone else boards. Then I have to wait until last at the other end. Often it can be half an hour after the first people get off that we’re getting inside the terminal and to the baggage carosel, hoping that all our bags are still there! I reckon between getting on and getting off, it adds another hour on to our flight length just sitting there, waiting for everyone else. I have to transfer into and out of the aisle chair back into mine at the bottom of the tunnel, at the door of the plane, creating another spectacle for the cabin crew and cleaners to gawk at as they come past. Just to add the extra uneasiness, the cabin crew inform me before we take-off that in the event of an accident, whilst I can have complete confidence in the crew, I will be dealt with last. Company policy. AND my days of the window seat are gone! For safety reasons, I have to have the aisle seat, which makes it hard if the plane has a 3 seat configuration because I’m in the aisle seat and Candy’s in the middle. So whoever is on the window has to straddle me to get over into their seat. Which is perfectly fine if it’s a gorgeous young lady travelling alone, but so far it’s only been men. Bugger. Hopefully one day I catch a flight with the Australian Women’s Under 30′s Champion Beach Volleyball team. Here’s hoping.
Perth is quite a nice place. We didn’t get much time to look around as Candy was helping Heidi with a lot of stuff as Cooper was only 6 days old and a C-section birth. But we went out a couple of times shopping which was great! First time we were there a year ago, we drove straight out of Perth down to the Margaret River for 2 weeks which was beautiful. So hopefully next time we’ll see a few more sites actually in Perth. While I was there, I went to my first concert since my accident. I absolutely love death metal, and when I lived on the Gold Coast, I regularly trekked up to Brisbane to see some awesome overseas bands that came out here to Australia. Since moving down at the end of 2007, I just didn’t have the time or opportunity to keep going, especially since Melbourne is 4 hours one way and Sydney 5 hours the other. I actually had bought tickets for me and a mate to see Opeth in Sydney in 2008, but I had my accident 2 weeks before the show! So until now I haven’t even looked at going to any, but then I found out about all these bands touring this year, and the more I thought about it the more I didn’t want to miss them. Especially now I have all the time in the world! So I dragged Marty along with me to the Amplifier Bar in Perth to see a US progressive death metal band called Between The Buried And Me, which was definitely a new experience for him! It was a great show and I had a great night. Since then I’ve made 2 trips to Melbourne with a carer to see more bands and have another concert coming up at the end of May. One good thing about going to shows in a wheelchair is that I always get VIP service, as venues are understanding of me not being able to get around in a crowd of people. I don’t have to line up, and so far have been let in early to get a good spot so I can see, through back door’s or loading dock’s if I have too, and keep seeing all the band members standing around out there. These guys are like Brangelina to me! Next time I’m going to take something to get signed I reckon!
My standing frame got delivered on April Fool’s (figures!). It’s a great bit of equipment, really easy to use and so beneficial! This should be the FIRST piece of equipment you get at home, not the last. It’s good to get upright again, a really weird feeling but still good. It’s extremely uncomfortable though, it feels like you’re trying to balance on top of balls stacked on each other. But I try and get on it everyday, it’s good to get some weight back on the joints and stretch all the muscles.
A couple of weeks ago we had a meeting with our local MP Greg Aplin in Albury, to discuss the issue of the difference in monetary amounts in Workcover between the states. Basically, while Workcover is a national initiative, each state and territory in Australia has it’s own rules and regulations for it. Workcover in NSW has a lesser amount of weekly salary paid AND a lesser payout amount than both Queensland and Victoria, yet premiums are dearer here. This is ridiculous, why isn’t there just a flat rate, no matter where you live? It was a good meeting, I was relatively happy with the outcome, now I just have to pretty much write down the stuff we spoke about so he can take it on behalf of us and speak to some people, try and get some balls rolling. So I’ll keep everyone posted about that!
That’s pretty much everything for now, we’re all up to date. I’m going ok, SOOO doesn’t seem like 20 months ago I had this catastrophe happen to our lives. I can still close my eyes and take myself straight back to my proper life, driving around in the truck, bashing away on the drums, laying in bed with Candy…………I guess that is a never-ending list. I thought it was supposed to get easier as time goes on, not harder! Hopefully the scientists come up with something soon, for all our sakes!
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