Descent to normality - The epilogue

It's the Tuesday after Chelsea and already the show seems a lifetime away. I can't believe that only two weeks ago only the trees were on site, and the garden was only a few lines on a sheet of paper and a heap of materials.

So much has happened in the past week and we all try to remember it all to little avail. "Was that last wednesday or Thursday?" - can't remember - it doesn't matter anyway. So many people pass through our Chelsea world in the space of a few days - all outside their normal environment. Here celebrities, gardeners, Royals, friends and relatives are all the same. Reminds me of that famous Dickens piece about the same wind blowing across the peasant's patch that blows across the nobleman's - can't really remember that properly either.

"Was Chelsea good"?, "Did you get the Gold?" - have been asked that a few times in the past few days. The answer to both is yes. Both the staging experience and the show itself were fantastic. I hate leaving it all behind - I feel as it I've left a part of me there in the Pavilion when I walk away from it at the end of the show.

I'm lucky - I don't have to do the demolition. Ricky and the clearing crew took care of that on Sunday. Today was clearing up the odds and ends - The war torn remains that come home and need to be dealt with.

Piles of e mails await attention - amongst them greetings, congratulations and salutations. These I want to read - to hang on to - they are the remains of Chelsea 2009 and I'm not ready to let go yet. Perhaps its time to move on and start thinking about next year? - Do I have an idea for Chelsea 2010 ? - Well, you'll have to wait and see.