Headline: You don't bring me flowers any more

The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 November 2008, Rick Feneley, p.11

The hard times are here, for the top end of town and the bottom. People are spending less. They are a little less kind - or, at least, they can ill-afford spontaneous gestures of generosity.

But first, we cross to another barometer of Sydney's kindness deficit: the florists. Is the downturn hurting?

"The answer is yes," says David Ash, the owner of the Flower Factory, which has eight shops around Sydney. "Until the end of September, trade was on par with last year. But from October trade has been down about 10 per cent. There's a certain element of bravado in not wanting to be the first to admit things aren't so good but if I look at the car park at Flemington Markets the industry is down well beyond that 10 per cent."

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