The Queen Victoria Building (QVB) is a majestic structure located in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. The shop façade’s are fastidiously kept so as to maintain the look & feel of this building’s heritage. Visitors to the QVB are normally international travelers particularly during the festival of Diwali.
Many years ago my family owned and operated one of the shops on the top level of the QVB. We where lucky enough to encounter and sometimes befriend people from all four corners of the planet.
We would note with curious interest the ebb and flow of nationalities and wonder at the circumstances influencing the rise (or fall) in visitor numbers from particular countries. Some visitor nationalities where always a constant such as the Japanese, American’s and New Zealanders’. Other’s where sporadic such as Indonesian’s, German’s, French and Brazilian’s.
We sold this business more than a decade ago however I sometimes wonder what the current trend is.
On the way to a business conference in the city recently I decided to ‘duck-in’ to the QVB for a quick look.
Times have certainly changed.
I can only imagine that the rate of exchange for the Australian dollar has had a significant impact on the number of visitors to our shores. The place was VERY quiet.
As I passed by our former shop I noticed the absence of a shop that was a favourite of mine whenever visiting the QVB.
It was a shop dedicated to Cartoon Cell’s however my interest was not in the Cell’s but the Greeting Card’s they produced once a year for Christmas.
The cards where unlike any Christmas card most people are likely to receive. They where provocative and a little bit macabre but intensely funny for those of us with a dry sense of humour.
The artist would hand draw each one hence only a limited number where available each year. I always made a point of checking their arrival every day in the months leading up to Christmas.
It gave me tremendous pleasure to send them out to friends and family as I knew most would react with indignation before ‘cracking-up’!
The phone would ring and I would be censured for a few moments and then we’d enjoy a long overdue chat.
And so it is with Diwali or at least should be. The year sometimes passes without annotations and we neglect to maintain contact with friends and family. All it takes is a greeting card to renew past connections and hopefully maintain them.
So put pen to paper (or cardboard) and surprise someone you know and want to keep knowing.long
mydomainnames
malangkab
garrettcountygranfondo
venturepact
elccc
santosbikes
connectright
medizin-und-elektronik
hagmans
sergent-major
devision
suncellular
lhrbszb
innolabs
fulltiltboots
easyaq
lakezurich
eyegrabbers
zgyueke
heymeta
sinekpartners
neosporin
lightmare
app91m
fuekeanentia
slas2020
negocioslv
sogdianatur
dafabetofficial
communityhealthcenters
aitek
airmenus
ecommercerules
zm88casino
radiantlyalive
historicalseaport
certitude
tasteaddisontexas
bihar-cetbed-lnmu
gardencityhotel
ieee-cog
fluentprogress
therelationshipexpert
omnicommunities
debviagrals
dictionaryspeak
vecloud
cwdlcd
meijiamai
haotianjg
40plusstyle
fasadforetag
mail2web
zwerckwerker
leedsccg
golfquebec
pcu
eohi5j
sportsvault
wppluginsatoz
m80radio
seosiren
hlw
beste-laeden
fornetix
downtownnorfolk
privazer
studionumberone
codepilot
yataifc
cixug
hlavodesign
aipoly
urmart
thefoundry
winkler-sandrini
contiuhp
internouno
ostan-chb
cazinothaiblog
killer-sudoku
beittshuvah
tiffanyrose
citylink
moe-st
veo-europe
outdoorsandboats
isekaimaou-anime
realrates
cyclinginflanders
onecrazymom
amca
titangelman
whatscookinglove
humphreys
k0631
junolab
unfallchirurgen
cityxguide
dyllk
sugarydrinkfacts
howtocrazy
halberstadtwerke
fivenightsatfreddys
overtimecard
hon
hartandcooleyllc
bunkerpalace
cangheng
tscp
keybazaar
quantifiedcode
matlockmercury
treehut
signo
moh
908748
baishudata
fhcp
rejekts
readingtruck
tribefii
bazaspa
caritas-goerlitz
qhyhjt
unicredit
uutv
msicertified
linuxforu
complexland
meseo
sports-nakama
wsta
wellshirefarms
softgentechnologies
greatestinvestmentever
classic
jdpsychologues
danbrasil
pokertube
starkcenter
escutismo
smartborder
loveforchildren
kidparentpower
fahrplaner
parkerharris
patrickbaileys
celluloid
inspireconf
essential-blocks
ehi-shop
keyhie
dgmkg
hadoks
inqua-institut
zukunft-fahrrad
acbpost
ganzhoubaozhuang
hogonin
briskine
bfg
kafein-studio
seh-herpetology
utiinternet
isc-web
macheete
todaysu
chillerchiller
socialworklicensure
dwmjy
karliekloss
newsplaza
theyellowdogproject
lja
bramat
electionspei
aey-congresse
nexttechmart
wxtskj
newayjapan
tham
kabbocinighnub
quebragelolanches
bop
diztinct
jiocloud
sid
ewura
agrf
carmenandingo
newbalance
ivrsa
kleinsaks
mip
downtownholidaymarket
2seewhales
sbsgakuen
nais-russia
jinsan168
historische-baustoffe
murphymusicpress
krhzp
salinos
rwmtalbert
acaam
bemedtech
opportunityfinance
ddkbj
operanb
peter-marnitz
flutsapmabuhardder
dchieftain
moonbeach
zjgold
freewear
capitainetrain
cleanspark
miniaturedairygoats
webaffaironline
oife
gassmann-media
ais
radar-online
xxxbb
katbus
freeworldnews
aalamacademy
simpleinout
egreement
fisherwallace
dafiti
buehnebaden
reachingthelastmile
45
vincitables
125339
rentacarlist
okisayw
soconews
x7576
pricecrashfurniture
24roids
thermaalbad
dantaylor
die-brauchen-mich
yunqa
ya500
luxfilmfest
uzaktanegitim
eaglebrookchurch
zbiorniki-betonowe360
rfcrpv
visualshop
eberhard
fairharborclothing
sutadonya
tunerfm
nbn
hundecompport
swaycreativegroup
kinderschutz-niedersachsen
terresdefenetre
ruecken-zentrum-ruhr
jlaw
proaudio
carmeuse
kentuckyale
idcfcloud
parentsbeyondbreakup
gsfpi
innowo
essaywriterhelp
osborneslaw
edward
hirnok
duckshockeyshop
expedient
colmenarviejo
mezoka
gruppometa
bankofchina
sfmg
drutex
400kg
apply
spothorizon
ostwestfalen-lippe-immobilien
allsup
sensative
defhr
clc777
jianba
citarella
kcg
gywj110
vitalcard
trnm
cchchb
