No sooner we are out of Christmas and the New Year sales, than the shops fill out with more types of red themed paraphernalia: Valentine’s Day cards, red roses and everything else turns to heart shaped objects.
A trip to Thailand over the New Year holidays has reminded me just how commercialised this all is: in Bangkok the shops do not even bother to wait for the fake Christmas trees and giant Father Christmases to be put away: the heart shaped stuff comes out and it is all a bit of a strange mismatch of celebrations. So what side of the fence are you on? Do you go all out for Valentine’s Day or do you wish it didn’t exist?
You can probably tell from the introduction that I am not into Valentine’s Day all that much: actually I have never been into any of these special days at all: I don’t need someone else to tell me when to celebrate and thank my mother, father, teacher, lover, etc… you get the idea here.
As the papers and magazines are full of things that you can do if you are into it all, I thought I’d write down a few things to do on Valentine’s day if, like me and my husband, you are not into it.
I have read a bit of the history of Valentine’s Day and it seems that it’s something else that the Romans did for us: Valentine’s Day started life as a three day fertility festival called Lupercalia which took place in mid-February. The Church then chose the same date to Christianise the celebrations: it is thought that a Christian cleric named Valentine was sentenced to death on the 14th February for carrying out marriages in secret after they were barred by Emperor Claudius (who thought that single men made better soldiers). It took over 900 years before the day of St. Valentine was fully linked to romance. By the 17thCentury people in Britain had begun to exchange Valentine’s Day cards and letters, and the first ever commercial card was produced in the US in the 1870s. It is now celebrated all over the world!
So how do you escape it? Luckily this year it falls on a Saturday so you can definitely make a day of trying to avoid it:
1. Stay in bed (or at least indoors): it is winter after all, and there’s nothing wrong with wanting to hibernate for 24 hours.
2. Take a trip to the movies: how about a thriller or a slasher movie?
3. Arrange a mixed night out with your friends: a night out bowling, or a night in with booze and nibbles.
4. How about spending the day visiting that exhibition you promised yourself you would go to: London is not too far away from Hertford and whether you are into art, science or transport there are plenty of museums where you could spend the afternoon or even the whole day.
5. If you are into sport, how about spending a few hours on a golf course or huddled up with lots of other people watching a football or rugby match? If you have never been, you might even enjoy it!
6. Make it a day in which you can enjoy good food: go out for a meal but choose a restaurant that’s only serving their standard, normal, non-romantic menu.
7. Take a one day course on something you’ve always wanted to learn more about or wanted to learn to make/create.
Have a good day everyone, and if you are going all out to try and avoid Valentine’s Day, let us know how you got on. If, however, you are into it, enjoy your romantic day.
