Neil and Robyn Ritchie at newsXpress Whittlesea have had an extraordinary ten days in their newsagency – but they can still manage a smile for customers and a quick photo.
Besides the challenge of a huge influx in the population of the town – it is a major holding area and contact point for bushfire relief in the area – they have customers, employees and friends directly affected.
In the tradition of newsagents of years gone by, Neil and Robyn are working very long days behind the counter of their newsagency in the heart of town and doing newspaper deliveries early in the morning as they have a driver off because his house was burnt to the ground. Their home is a resting place for many they know who have been affected.
Valentine’s Day and what would usually have been an excellent trading period came and went without notice as the sole focus of everyone in town is to understand the extent of the personal and property losses.
This Friday is Robyn’s birthday and an opportunity to celebrate even if only briefly because of the work waiting to be done the next day.
Our thoughts are with Neil, Robyn and all newsagents affected by the bushfires.
Is it true that The Age wrote to them about their failure to deliver over weekends due to the loss of their driver?
No, Giuseppe, it is not true. There was no failure to deliver the newspapers and no such letter from The Age.