Full Time Care

Yesterday was, of course, Valentine’s day. We don’t celebrate it as such in our house: not that it’s a celebration event anyway. Partly, this is because the fundamental idea behind the day has been horribly corrupted over the last decade or two: whereas it used to be a romantic opportunity to express one’s love for another person, it’s now become yet another commercialised bunch of utter tripe. In all honesty, it depresses me to see cards with “Happy Valentine’s Day” printed in them.

Whatever happened to the secret admirer, the blank card to be completed for a special person, the love poem? Marketing, that’s what. Now it’s all obligation and thoughtless purchases of standard text. Everyone seems to think that this one day in the year somehow determines how much we love our partner - nonsense. I have a friend who used to work in a supermarket before becoming an Oracle consultant and she recounts the experience there as defining the modern version of Valentine’s - an endless stream of young men coming in and buying a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates and a pack of condoms. Brain in neutral, testosterone in top gear.

Here, we celebrate 15th February instead. That’s the anniversary of the day we first met, sixteen years ago today! It’s also the anniversary of the day I proposed to my lady. We won’t be doing anything dramatic this year, due to a rather severe lack of funds, but we’ll definitely order in some nice food, open a bottle of wine and watch something smoochy. Now that’s what Valentine’s day should be like.