A customer working in Doha who had missed his mother's birthday twice and did not want to miss a third.
He ordered eight weeks ahead, which meant the date was on the board in the workroom before the flowers for it existed. When that week's flight came in, hers were set aside first. That is the practical advantage of ordering early here and it is not a small one: a dated order is bought for, and a last minute order takes what is left.
The card was three lines he had clearly rewritten several times. Somebody here wrote them out by hand.
Delivered at half past ten in the morning to a house in Maafannu, after a phone call to make sure she was in. He asked us not to say who it was from until she opened it, which we managed, just.