Saturday 14 February 2015

Oh dear, it's Valentines Day!

Listening to the radio I am astonished to hear people wishing each other Happy Valentines Day!
It may just be that I'm becoming seriously misogynist in my old age but surely it's not that sort of occasion.
David and I never did Valentines...we already knew we loved each other!
When I was a girl the idea of getting a card declaring love from someone you didn't know was exciting...but it didn't really happen much for me!
If I got a card it was always from someone I knew...
I can't remember now whether I ever sent a card to anyone...it seems most unlikely but this is just added proof that I have become a dozy old woman!
The most extravagant declarations of love were always when I was on a cruise!
Cunard sent red roses...one each....so no one felt left out!
Once when Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday a very determined lady advanced upon the Captain as he prepared to lead the ecumenical service.
She presented him with a huge bouquet of red roses.
The captain looked bemused but accepted the gift before handing them over to a steward...
We had no idea whether the roses were indeed tokens of love...but the poor man left them on the piano as he scuttled off the stage at the end of the service!
I suppose it all adds to the gaiety of life but I'm not sure what St Valentine would make of it all with all those arrows sticking out of his chest!
So I'm not going to wish you a happy Valentine...I'm just going to hope that no one feels unloved today......we don't need cards to tell us!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

3 comments:

Ray Barnes said...

Once more we are on the same wavelength Jean. John and I sent cards to each other only once and that was because we didn't know each other very well.
Once we did, we wrote off Valentine's day as yet another money-making scam for a huge variety of businesses.
It's not the best way to demonstrate your love surely. What about the other 364 days in the year?
Deeds speak louder than words, even if they are on cards and accompanied by (expensive) roses.

Babs said...

I only ever had one card from Ron and that was the first year we met. He loved me everyday for the rest of our lives together I am a very lucky lady, and I can still feel his love wrapped around me even now. His last thought on this earth was me

UKViewer said...

Another agreement. The way that commerce has intruded into major religious festivals and feasts is a scandal. The innocence of St Valentine is overlaid by unstated sexual allusions, rather than the expression of love felt for one another.

All of the emphasis on dating skills and the right way to attract someone seems somehow tawdry and something that should be consigned to the dustbin of history.

We as a couple, when first married, would go out for a meal together, and occasionally I'd buy a personal card or flowers for Jen, but nothing more. These were our shared, private expressions of love, and to be honest, our business and not for public consumption.

Sometimes the prurient attention paid by the media or in the media becomes intrusive and I believe harmful to those whose lives that they pry into or comment on. Another good reason to abandon Valentines Day and consign it to the history of other doubtful festivals that have been abused.