Hands busy, phone down: a Saturday morning for yourself
I spend a good part of every day behind a Post Office counter, so I know what a to-do list looks like.
Most people who come in are carrying one. A parcel to return. A form to send off. A card they meant to post on Tuesday. Quite often there’s a phone in the other hand with the next three jobs waiting on it.
I’m no different. Between the counter, the flowers and the workbench out the back, my own list rarely gets any shorter.
But there is one part of the day when it goes quiet, and that’s when I’m arranging.
Flowers won’t be hurried
A stem needs cutting cleanly, stripping, and turning until it sits the way it wants to. You need both hands, and you need your eyes on what you’re doing.
It is very hard to scroll with scissors in one hand and a dahlia in the other.
There’s also nothing much to get wrong. If a stem sits too high, you take it out and try again. Nobody is waiting on it. Nothing pings.
I grew up with a florist for a mother, so I’ve known this feeling for longer than I’ve had words for it. It isn’t anything grand. It’s simply what happens when your attention is on one small, pleasant thing for a while, instead of on twelve.
What I notice upstairs
Last week I wrote about the quiet that settles over a room when people are busy with their hands. It’s the thing I notice most in The Cosy Space.
People arrive with their week still on them. Then, without anyone remarking on it, the phones stay in the bags. The chat comes and goes. Somebody laughs at a stem that won’t behave.
Nobody has to be good at any of it, the flowers or the conversation. And at the end you stand back and look at something you made yourself, which is not how most mornings end.
Try it at home first
You don’t need a workshop for this.
Pick or buy a small bunch, leave your phone in another room, and give yourself twenty minutes. Strip off any leaves that would sit below the water. Cut each stem at an angle. Add them one at a time, turning the vase as you go.
That’s all. The washing up will still be there, but you’ll have had twenty minutes that belonged to you.
A Saturday morning for yourself
If you’d like the longer version, with company and refreshments laid on, come and join me for the Pumpkin Workshop.
It’s on Saturday 17 October, 9.30 to 11.30, upstairs in The Cosy Space at Tysoe Post Office.
We’ll use a pumpkin as the container for seasonal flowers and autumn foliage, and you’ll decorate a mini pumpkin with dried flowers as well. Both go home with you.
It’s £50, and you don’t need any experience. Just bring a pair of sharp scissors.
Everything is foam-free, and the flowers will be whatever is at its best that week.
The Cosy Space is up a flight of stairs, so if you have any access needs, tell me when you book and we’ll talk about how I can help.
Two hours, hands busy, nothing to answer.
Groups are kept small, so places do go. I’d love to see you by the bench.
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