The End of an Era

Tomorrow will be the last day of trading for one of our city's oldest fabric stores where personalised service was the order of the day. I only found out this week that the store was closing its doors tomorrow and I just had to venture down to the CBD to say goodbye. Sabas had been operating for more than 80 years and I can still remember the current owner's father selling high quality fabric when I first moved to Toowoomba many years ago. There were many fabric shops here in those days prior to Spotlight and Lincraft moving to the area. One by one, they have closed down which is sad as the owners knew their product well and were able to advise customers about what to buy.

I felt quite saddened to walk into the store past the empty display windows to find hardly any stock left. The owner was pleasant as always as I bought a few metres of fabric (despite the fact that I am currently fabric stash busting) and I wished him and his wife all the best for the future. 

I rarely go into the CBD as it is so difficult to get a park  but while I was there I thought I would have a look around and see what I had been missing lately. There have been quite a few changes I must say. 

Toowoomba is host to First Coat which is an event when artists do street art on the walls of buildings around the CBD. I always intend to get a map and have a walk around to look at the various paintings but never have. I did come across a few today and some are more appealing to me than others although I am in two minds about the whole issue of spray painting over old buildings. 

 

This was the first one I saw which reminded me about First Coat and this one was at the top of what used to be a dingy little laneway between shops but has been transformed into a trendy cafe precint.

The artists have a bit more imagination than I do...

...and a lot more talent too as I can't even draw stick figures :-)

 If you are into street art then the First Coat festival is on from the 20-29th May and from reading the website it looks like there will be guided walks around the CBD to view the paintings.

 I wondered what else I had missed so took a walk down to the new city library as I wanted to check out where the after hours return chute is as you need to know those little snippets of information don't you? LOL! Well, if anyone else who lives in the region didn't know either it is in Victoria Street which is around the other side of the library from the entrance. Before I got there I walked through a park which was full of aboriginal art. I am not sure what the park is called but it is in Little Street if anyone is visiting and wants to take a look.

I also came across this on the way to the library and I have no idea why it is there except to make me wonder who took off with the 'I'. 

 

One of our largest shopping centres, Grand Central,  has expanded and is building an absolutely huge extension and just walking past it made me feel like I was in Brisbane as there was so much noise and activity. I like the quiet life and the 'country' feel of our city and I do hope it doesn't get too much like the bigger cities. You can see the construction progress here which I just had a look at and it made me quite dizzy.

 

The external panelling is going up on the bridge across the street which incidentally is where some of the CBD flooding happened during the 2011 floods.

The panelling is a mustard/copper colour and I wondered if that was to complement the copper panelling of the new library just up the road. 

The CBD is really bustling and I was thinking how the region seems to be booming with the unemployment rate in Toowoomba at around 4.6% and there seem to be building sites everywhere. Plus the new Wellcamp Airport has been hugely successful and the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, which will soon be started hopefully, will provide 1800 full time jobs. 

Then I read Annabel's The Bluebirds are Nesting about what is happening in South Australia with the possible closure of the Whyalla steelworks which could put thousands out of work. Obviously all is not well in all regions of Australia whether in the city or in the country as much of our state of Queensland is still drought declared. I think we are very fortunate to live where we live and I appreciate our beautiful region very much and try not to take it for granted. 

How are things where you are living? Have a great weekend everyone!