We call ourselves the lucky country and I think with what I have been reading, that could be true. I live in Brisbane Australia and one of my hobbies is toy soldier collecting. I live about ten minutes by car from a toy soldier shop dealer which is called The Military Workshop. Now some forum members will instantly recognise the name and Brett the owner, regularly contributes threads with his contributions of knowledge and witty remarks. If you ever visit the shop,from the outside it is rather plain and inside there is usually boxes of toy soldiers partially blocking corridors but then the wonderment takes your thoughts away. Brett has numerous display cabinets of dioramas and collections of various makers that are the latest releases and one's that have long been retired. Some are fairly rare to acquire and I believe Andy from King and Country makes occasional purchases when he visits on his annual pilgrimage. Now Andy and Brett are friends from long ago in Hong Kong before the Chinese takeover and we like to think that we have the inside running on what is happening in the hobby. Whether that is the case or not the experience of visiting the store can be more rewarding as Brett will talk to you for hours about toy soldiers, movies, how to solve the world's problems if you have the time to spare.
On a Saturday morning there is usually a gathering of well known forum members in the store and if you want to make a purchase it often takes longer as the
catching up with what is going on normally draws you in. I make most of my purchases during the week when it is less busy. So I think we are lucky or maybe fortunate to be right across every aspect of the hobby and if you ever visit our fair city it could be well worth the experience to have a look. Regards Greg.
