It has been raining like crazy to day. The poor flowers are looking a little bedraggled (we all are in fact) and so we have decided to stop cropping until the morning to give them a chance to dry off.
Otherwise progress is good and you should be able to find us on the shelves in Waitrose tomorrow.
I have implemented a new colour coding system this week. We produce different lengths and weights for each supermarket. This makes things very confusing for all concerned. Most of our flower team are from Lithuania so my heart sinks when I have to explain an intricate change to a supermarket specification.
This week I had a thought of such blinding simplicity that I should have been hailed as a genius. Was I hailed as a genius? Did I get hoisted up onto the team's shoulders and carried on a lap of the site with a laurelwreath on my head? Did I heck. I'll tell you what I got. I got four blank looks, three sighs, two tuts and a shoulder shrug.
So how does it work?
Yellow for Waitrose, Red for Marks and Spencer, Green for Sainsburys and Blue for our new super, super premium grade. The grading lines, packing tables and buckets have all been coloured accordingly. Despite the initial scepticism it's working like magic. When you lay a bunch against the colour bands you can see clearly where it belongs.
I was explaining this concept to someone on Thursday but I had dialled my friend, Julie, by accident on my mobile phone. Julie had picked up the call to hear me saying "I'm using colour, it's a universal language". She knew it was me immediately, not so much from my voice as the pompous things I was saying. She has been ridiculing me all week.
Dialling a number by accident on my mobile phone is one of my greatest fears. This is why I don't often carry it. It worries me far more than being buried alive or being eaten by snakes. I normally have my keypad locked and check it regularly. Can you imagine anything worse than dialling someone without realising when you are singing in the car? I'm cringing just thinking about it.
There have been other technical and logistical problems too this week. Our super, super premium grade is 120cm long. It looks fantastic but it is something of a challenge to move around. We will be busy extending things and looking for new packaging next week.
Once you step outside commodity production every day is an adventure.
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