A day after a blizzard dumped 40 centimeters on Moncton, florists in the hub city are scrambling to fill their orders, deliver the goods and serve the last minute shoppers on one of their biggest day of the year – Valentine’s Day.
READ MORE: New Brunswick school closures, travel delays continue as storm clean-up underway
At MacArthur’s Flower Shop on Mountain Road, they are behind on deliveries, which are not made any easier due to businesses still being closed and walkways not shoveled.
Flower designer Wayne Archibald said these aren’t even the biggest issues for the business. He said many employees weren’t able to make it into work because of the storm.
“Because the buses didn’t start running ’til 12, we’re working on half staff this morning which throws havoc into the day,” Archibald said.
For one Moncton courier service, one of the biggest obstacles – on a day already full of them – is trying to get flowers delivered to businesses that are still closed and had made previous arrangements to get flowers delivered to employees on Feb. 14th.
“We’re going into businesses that aren’t open yet, or people aren’t into work yet, ’cause obviously they’re not shoveled out,” said Ritch Woodland of Dynamic Deliveries.
Woodland added that this day is unlike any other because of Monday’s storm.
“I’ve had a couple deliveries today where I couldn’t deliver because we couldn’t get to the house. Nothing shoveled, no driveway, no walkway, nothing. You just cant do that,” Woodland said.
READ MORE: New Brunswickers brave the cold during Atlantic blizzard
Archibald doesn’t necessarily blame Mother Nature for the tardiness, he tends to put the onus on human nature.
“Men, we are a last minute people, we tend to wait ’til the last minute to do things,” Archibald said. “We wait last minute for Xmas shopping, for birthdays, why should Valentine’s be any different?”
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