The time has come for us to reflect on why we bought The Blue Bird and what it means for our future. Remember that we first fell in love with a forlorn gem of a building desperately in need of someone to rescue it from crumbling to dust. The potential of the art deco shop to be a significant building in Australia's culture and architectural history was immediate. We also saw a business potential though recognised that the days of the Greek cafe had passed for so many country towns that it was unlikely the shop would see the same vibrancy and success as it had in days gone by. Nevertheless we hoped that we could find a new purpose, stamp our own mark on the Blue Bird and provide a new relevancy for an old relic.
First and foremost was the building. With very, very limited funds but enthusiam and energy to compensate, we set about restoring and renovating the defunct shop for a new life, a new era. Our initial burst of energetic work was hard going. We battled on with no income to fund tbe work for four months and in that time it became apparent that we had bitten off more than we realised. Still, we knew we were up to it. We were learning more each day how to care for and restore an old building. After four months however, it was necessary to generate an income in the shop so it could support its own repair. So we opened before we felt we were ready to unveil our work. It was a necessary sacrifice in the interests of survival. We also opened a business that we were not ready for and that side of our lives quickly took over.
Before we knew it, we were slaves to opening in order to make money so we could continue the restoration we felt compelled to do. Trading however had its drawbacks. Originally six days a week meant that we had no time at all for restoration work let alone resting and looking after ourselves. We neglected life outside of the Blue Bird for a year, spending our one day a week closed, running around for the business. And as we did, people kept asking us what we were doing away from the shop, as if we were not entitled to a life outside of making money. We did not go into business so that we could burn ourselves out chasing money. There is more to life than that and many people in small business, including the original Greek cafe owners will tell you that small business is not as lucrative as you'd think. It is hard work for limited personal gain.
After the first year we realised that six days opening was not getting us anywhere in terms of our original aim to care for a lovely, deserving heritage building. So we cut back on opening hours and gave up some of the necessary funding for the building restoration work. After that it became a balancing act of work versus work, money versus time and we never seemed to find the successful combination.
We had some milestones along the way, like opening the milk bar again, restoring the booths and increasing the usable size of the shop, little by little. Threes years on however we had built a business that had developed into something we were happy with and proud of but we knew that it was at the expense of the building we loved suffering as it started showing signs of neglect and continued slow decline.
So after some agonising and head scratching about the future, we decided that we did not want to lose sight of our original purpose of taking care of the Blue Bird. We have closed the business for the time being so that we can dedicate effort to building repair and restoration. The ceiling needs a lot of work that was never going to be achieved while the shop was open and the brick and plasterwork needs attention too. Until now, we had never managed to take on the old kitchen because we understood early on that it was so far gone it could not be practically restored beyond beginning again from scratch and we never had the money for that project.
We know that some people will question our decision in many ways but it is what we need to do for our future and the fiture of the Blue Bird that we have put our hard earned money and time into when so many others passed it by day after day not caring if it crumbled to dust and forgotten memory. We are comfortable with our decision to take care of ourselves and our investment in the past/future. They say that if you are not moving forward you are going nowhere. This is a step forward, for us and for the Blue Bird.
