Joy, love and nasty nice things

So yesterday lunchtime I was wondering through Newmarket, on a hunt for a card and a present for a first birthday. And when venturing into every shop I had this huge red & pink reminder of the fact that the most God-awful day of the year is fast approaching.

VALENTINES DAY

It's not a day that I've ever really enjoyed. In fact, I've never taken part... well only in the sense that I've sat in my room watching many films that have no love story in them (yes they do exist) with a tub of ice cream, or chocolate, or really anything nice that isn't pink or red. Trouble is at the forefront of my mind has always been friends that are spending time with a partner and doing whatever it is that couples do on valentines day. It's made me miserable for years.

While I think that it's lovely that there is a special day for which people get to show how much they care, like everything, it's all so commercial. Walking around and constantly seeing hearts and flowers all over the place and "leave a valentines message here" in shop windows.

DO you need to buy masses of presents to show someone how much you really care? And does everyone need to do it on the same day? Isn't that what anniversaries are for? And I don't just mean those stupid one week, two week, three week ones, I mean the proper ones, those yearly ones.

What I think I am trying to say is that shops are exploiting "love" for money. If you care about someone, do nice things spontaneously, you don't need a day that was invented to do it. Saying that, I suppose you do. I guess that if someone received a seemingly random something from a partner, they would presume that someone has a guilty conscience.

Just please do not think that you have to buy a partner something for valentines day, and don't let the world make you feel guilty for not doing so. Do it on a day that the mood takes you, without any silly "the perfect gift for valentines day" weblinks. Do it when you want to, when you want to show you care. The more I think about valentines day, the less meaning it has. It never really had a meaning in the first place did it.