This week I have worked in the Middle (Our off site workroom) all week, we've an extrodinary number of weddings this week almost on every day, well six out of seven. Monday isn't a fashionable day to get married, people just aren't in the party spirit, needless to say Jason & I got married on a Monday. The Middle is a huge, almost empty warehouse, "Rosie Disposition" is the hinge pin of this space, Vicky, Shirl, Rachel, Emma, Li'l Jane, Caz and I have invaded her space full time this week. Fresh flowers for each wedding are delivered directly from Holland, directly to the middle every single day, we follow work sheets, discuss design possibilities, create masterpieces without the diversions of telephone calls and very welcome customers. We have lists created by Sally, timetables to follow, photgraphs of samples that were made for the brides to copy and interpret, costings to meet, we concentrate HARD. Amazingly though there is a lot of laughter, I wonder sometimes does it border on hysteria. We are starved of human contact you see, a bit like in The Big Brother House, we are never however starved of food, people take pity on us, regulars bring in cakes, packets of biscuits, punnets of bluberries (my favourite) and flavoured Green Teas (another of my favourites, brought on by an effort to detox).
We share lessons in life, hopes for the future, worries and concerns, traumas and tribulations, but most importantly we all share a passion for Dirk (Our Dutch wholesaler). Yesterday we shared with Li'l Jane the importance of being a good brusher upperer (another made up word), how this skill along with being able to make a good brew (in clean cups) is essential to her future, she is 16, eager, smart, hardworking, but hadn't until yesterday handled a brush with feeling, with the input of elbow grease, with PRIDE. It was explained in order of importance how an unclean floor could slow down our efforts, resulting in un-wanted overtime, or a design not completed in time, we could lose incredibly expensive tools, scissors, knives etc in the debris and lastly someone could trip, fall seriously injure themselves, or infact die having fallen on the buried knife/scissors. All of this is Li'l Jane's responsibility to prevent. If she applies this to life she will be fine, I don't know anyone who isn't seriously impressed with someone who manages a brush with gusto, one day Li'l Jane will nonchalantly grasp a brush in front of her potential mother in law and she'll be made, my own mother in law was so impressed by my brush handling that she mistook it for domesticity, by the time she realised the truth it was too late the damage was done.
For pleasure we ponteficate, discuss, put bets on and generally fantasise about what Dirk will be wearing, today Vicky won, beige, now next week he has promised us pink and with shorts! he is about 6'4" and very, very Dutch. For those of you with time for a Diet Coke break on a Thursday morning around 10:00, come on down. If you really want to impress please feel free to bring your own brush!
