Valentine's Day - Good or Evil?

[Rob McCow]

Happy Valentine's Day? Or is it Valentines Day?

I've done my Wiki, Ricky. It turns out Valentine's Day came about because of a poem by Geoffery Choorser which featured a line that went:

For this was on seynt Volantynys day Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.
[For this was Saint Valentine's day, when every bird of every kind comes to this place to choose his mate.]

With that spelling, we're lucky that it's not a day heavily associated with Cheeses of all kinds. The idea of St Valentine's Day was further cemented by William Shakespeare, who mentioned it in Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

But what does Valentine's Day mean to you? Would you rather it didn't exist? Does it detract from loving someone all year round if there's a special day for being in love?



Would the day be better spent sacrificing animals to Eros at Picadilly Circus?

[Philipnet]

Eros would love it

I think this could easily be split two ways:
* Those that are single and hate it
* Those that are in a relationship and love it.


But there I go overgeneralising again

[Stuart Wallis]

With that spelling, we're lucky that it's not a day heavily associated with Cheeses of all kinds

Blessed are the cheesemakers! Cracking bit of Wensleydale, Gromit, now go and tell Mr. Hart he can't have any!

[Andrew Curnow]

I think it's daft. Unusually for our household, I've always 'put my foot down' on this one and never 'do' Valentine's day. We-ell, that's not true - I think the first two or three years of being married we did get each other a token card, but then I came to the conclusion that it's pointless. The other day I saw a mother and her son doing their shopping around the local supermarket, and as well as bread & veg & loo roll, etc, etc there was a Valentine's card in her basket - clearly for her husband, clearly (IMHO anyway) bought because it's now expected.

So, we now never do it. Or at least, no shop-bought cards, no roses. The past couple of years I've bought Zel a DVD that she wants (or that I know she'd like, rather) and made my own "This is NOT a Valentine's Day Card" card. Last year was "Buy Your Love One A Cult DVD" Day, and today was "Here's A Spin-Off, Watch The Spin-Off, Love the Spin-Off-- OH!! It's An Anagram" day (yes I know, catchy isn't it) because I bought her Torchwood season 2.

Zel has a similar tradition, in that every year she moans to anybody who'll listen that I don't send her flowers or buy her a card... but she does it in jest (at least, I think so...) because really she kind of thinks the same as me (at least, I think so...) that it's a day which is a cause for celebration mainly by manufacturers of cards & by the rose growers of the UK.

I'm all for it if you genuinely are a secret admirer and want to send somebody a card anonymously (although, where does 'secret admirer' stop and 'stalker' begin...) but as a swap of cards between two people that are already in a relationship... like the Pirate Captain's brilliantly-conceived toy, What's it for???

Looks like I haven't change my opinion much in 10 years...

So, that's Valentine's Day firmly quashed on the Curnow calendar. Next target, Father's Day.

[Nyder]

I guess the restaurant trade, flower sellers and card people are rather partial to VD


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Mike Saville]

The day of unrequited love.
The day young girls wait eagerly for a card and flowers, hoping he's noticed her looking at him.
The one day the speccy ginger kid can send a card to the school babe anonymously and pretend he's not a stalker.
The one day the fat lass can send an almost anonymous card to the school studmuffin, with a heart shaped dot embellishing each i.
Both recipients will be convinced which heartthrob it came from, regardless of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
This day last year she hadn't met him. This day next year she'll not remember him or wish she hadn't met him. But today she loves him.
From afar.
From beneath her Justin Bieber posters.
The day of unrequited love.

And what of those already in the relationship?

In the morning she wakes, hoping for that jewellery, and the news of the restaurant table with no mention of cost. Expectation gives way to resignation as the day draws on, and by evening she's hoping that at least she may get some garage flowers or that lonely box of Milk Tray they've had on the shelf above the jump leads since last Easter. She's every right to be disappointed of course. She has after all bought him that lovely shirt that she's decided she wants to see him wearing rather than his normal attire, and four fluid ounces of something alcohol based that will make him smell a little more like David Beckham rather than George Best.

In the morning he wakes, hoping for that blowjob, and a full English breakfast with no mention of cholestrol. Expectation gives way to the resignation as the day draws on, and realising that a £1 card from Tesco and the marabou Ann Summers lingerie and delay condoms probably weren't currency enough, he spends the one day given over to romantics everywhere fighting a rearguard action, searching for that Golden Ticket that will get him off the hook for another year. It won't be something alcohol based to make her smell more like Christina Aguilera than Christina Hamilton. He's stupid. he's not that stupid.

The day of unrequited love.

[Rob McCow]

Very bleak, Mike! Though true for lots of people I guess.

[Wayne]

I can see why some people think it's the commercialisation of 'romance', but then you could draw parallels with the commercialisation of Christmas, and no-one complains about that do they? (Oh hang on....)

But seriously, I just view it as a bit of fun. It doesn't have to be a HUGE deal either way.
Jane and I bought each other little cards that cost about 59p, and we wrote a few nice lines to each other. I bought her a heart shaped box of choccies for £1.75 off the market, and she was as pleased as punch, even though I'd spent a little over £2.00 in total.
You don't have to spend loads of money, (indeed you can't if you haven't got it) but I'm sure most ladies appreciate the gesture. It's the little things that count, and yes you can do little things on any day, and should do, but Valentine's day is pretty harmless IMO. True, we'd be no worse off without it, and any good relationship certainly doesn't need it, but I'd rather treat it as the bit of extra fluff that it is and think of it as an opportunity to bring an extra smile or two into the world?

[Dirk Gently]

I guess the restaurant trade, flower sellers and card people are rather partial to VD

V.D!!??

They should see a Doctor.