Valentines Day, Romantic or commercial poppycock?

 Valentines Day

I got my first Valentines day card when I was 13, inside it was just marked with a mysterious ‘X’.  All day at school I wondered who had sent it.  I looked around the classroom at any possible candidates and fervently hoped it was none of them.  
It had arrived in the early post just after Dad had left for work, -remember those days when the post came early in the morning?  It was perplexing, obviously it was someone who knew my home address.  In my egotistic youth I was so excited to think I had a secret admirer.  I had recently just started going to discos and youth club with friends and was well on the way to discovering boys and quite prepared for my first boyfriend, or so I thought,  after all, the Jackie’ magazine had been preparing us teenyboppers for that every week.  
When I got home from school, I lay on my bed and stared up at David Essex, and David Cassidy and dreaming about my first secret admirer.  Who could it be?
Presently Dad came home and I excitedly showed him  my very first Valentine card.  He was washing his hands in the sink, I then saw the way he smirked and said while side-eyeing me, “I wonder who it could be from?”  With a sudden flash of realisation all became clear and my romantic visions of a secret admirer came crashing down faster than a wobbly Jenga.  Poor dad looking at my crestfallen face realised it probably wasn’t one of his best ideas.  So my initial introduction to Valentines day did not go as expected, even though deep down I knew it came from a good place.  

Commercialism


Back in the seventies there wasn't all the hype that there is today,  hype may I add,  mostly imported from America.  In those days it wasn’t rammed in your face as soon as Christmas was over.  There may have been a few cards in the local newsagent and adverts on the tv of mysterious men dressed all in black delivering milk tray chocolates secretly into womens' bedrooms. (Now looks very creepy!)
I always was under the impression Valentines Day was all about  single secret admirers to get a chance to let someone know (usually single themselves) that they were fancied, and usually accompanied by a romantic poem.  


I never did get a real secret Valentine card from an unknown admirer which, after all dear bloggie, as aforementioned is what I always thought it was all about.  Today it seems to be a day when you spend lots of money letting people know that on this particular day of the year your love is measured by how much you spend on them.

My husband won't admit it but he is an old romantic and has always acknowledged Valentines day in some way or other.  In our early days of living together before we were married he came home to our basement flat in Bristol with a single red rose in his hand only to find me steadying a chair for a handsome electricity meter man who was reading our meter. He teased me about that for years.  Now after 42 years of marriage, he will still do something and I will feel guilty.  This year we are going out for a swish meal to watch Emma sing and it will be fun.  

The Poppycock


Another thing, think of the single people out there who long for someone to love but are unlucky or have recently lost a loved one?  What about them?  Must be a lonely time.  I believe that we should show our love for each other every single day, similarly for Mothers/Fathers day etc not just on one day when everything is extra expensive.  I recently read of a couple that celebrate a day after Valentines Day because everything is then half price.  Not a bad idea.



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