Tama's whale

Big Tama, a Samoan man in his 40s, a former rugby player turned florist: 6 foot 5, huge and broad, warm smile, black hair tied in a top bun, full traditional Samoan tatau covering one arm from shoulder to wrist, wearing a white T-shirt, dark jeans, brown work boots and a sage-green canvas florist's apron with secateurs in the pocket. Arranging huge armfuls of wildflowers on the back of a sleeping blue whale floating on a calm sea at golden hour, the whale's back already covered in a meadow of blooms.