Imagine someone coming round to your house and being shocked and aghast at the fact you’d actually done a spot of tidying up. That’s what it’s been like in the shop this week. To be honest my house is pretty tidy, if you excuse the mess made by the chickens, ducks and dog. Personally I think it’s homely and if someone pops round I just light a scented candle and shove any mess behind a large flower pot.

The shop however is a workspace and everyone knows that true ‘creatives‘ like myself need CREATIVE SPACE in which to work.

Some say ‘A messy desk, leads to a messy mind, whereas I’m ‘An empty desk, leads to an empty mind‘ sort of person. I love clutter and stuff, I love having everything to hand or at least having stuff hidden somewhere under a pile of other stuff. I love the excitement of finding that special roll of ribbon I thought had been lost for ever, sitting under a crusty old sandwich I hadn’t had time to finish.

This week I’ve learnt that not everyone thinks like I do!

Alison started in the shop this week. Alison is a very experienced florist who lives locally and I’m delighted that she’s come to work at The Flower Shop, Pulborough. But after just one day we soon came to realise that The Flower Shop, Pulborough is not like any other flower shop…

Apparently, most other flower shops are run like proper businesses. I’m not saying we are not a professional well run establishment, of course we are, but maybe, just maybe it doesn’t always seem that way from the outside, looking in.

Over Christmas, while most were still enjoying the festivities, John and I set about rearranging the workspace in the flower shop. I decided that we needed room for customers to get through the door, as well as having room for me and the other florists to do our floristry magic. Both John and I are big Dr Who fans, so we knew it was possible for the inside of the shop to be infinitely bigger inside than it looked from the outside and after throwing away a ton of detritus, putting away the Christmas stock and moving the work-benches around, there was enough space for me to do a cheeky Charleston or a sexy Samba.

When all the new year stock arrived a couple of weeks ago, I tried to stick to my resolution. Becky, Lisa, Charlotte, Rachel, Antonia, Mel and Daisy all kept me to my word and seemed even happier working in this tidy, spacious environment (Annemarie is on holiday and is going to be the most shocked and disbelieving of this news). So when Alison arrived I strutted around like a puffed up parrot, immensely proud of my team and my tidy little shop.

So imagine how crestfallen I must have appeared when the first thing Alison suggested, was a little tidy up!!!

It was a well meant suggestion and maybe there was still some room for improvement, so I agreed, went out on a delivery and left her to it. When I returned, I thought I’d walked into the wrong shop. It was still bursting with flowers and beautiful home-ware, but somehow looked different. I perched myself on my stool but couldn’t quite believe it was the same shop.

I then watched as customers came in, hesitating in the doorway as they looked around, probably thinking, as I did that they had stepped into a parallel universe.

This has been happening all week. The look of shock, surprise and confusion of people’s faces that make me wonder what they thought before?

So here’s to the new, tidy, well organised shop!

I’m taking bets on how long it’s going to last.