Happy Valentines day
Hi, and happy Valentines day to you. I hope you have a good one 
This is the fourth in a row without a lady to benefit from the event via a certain Mr Matthew Wilcox. Some might think that a bad thing, but I see it as an opportunity. Come next Valentine’s day I will have five times the loving to give out, as each one that passes without someone to share it, I try and think of a way the next one might be made extra special. 
I am however toying with the idea of shifting the date. Hear me out on this…
It’s statistically proven that in the two weeks leading up to the day and the two weeks after, couples are five times as likely to split up as any other period in the year. I read that in the paper, and cant find a link about the story, but I’d believe the trend if not the figures, especially as I’ve experienced and contributed toward that depressing statistic.
Reason number two that I’d like to switch the date is because I dislike what Valentines day has come to represent to some people (which I believe is the reason behind those statistics mentioned above). I’m all for the celebrating love and making people you care about feel special. I’m not at all liking the social engineering that can go on over the event. The day often has expectations associated with it, and that’s not a good thing. Love isn’t about expectations, it’s about expression. You should not be competing with last years Valentines day, you should not be worrying about whether you did enough or whether your partner will think you suck because you only got her a bunch or roses from the garage after work (I’ve not done that by the way, I’m just making a point). You should not be feeling pressured to do something. A loving gesture comes from the heart, not from outside pressure, or the gesture is made meaningless, or at least diminished in worth. That’s not to say that people celebrating Valentines day are somehow bowing to pressure, but that it is an easy trap to find yourself in. There is no way that Valentines day should be able to make problems for you. The concept of Valentines day is great, the popularity of it being a fixed date isn’t, it can create expectation, and then problems.
Reason number three for moving Valentines day to a private date that no one else knows about is tied in with reason two - commercialisation. Because a social pressure has been engineered, costs tend to go up. Flowers suddenly become expensive. Valentines day has become a profit making day, and yet another marketing exercise. What many companies are effectively saying is ‘Buy our stuff, or maybe you don’t love him/her?’. Pah! I know damn well how to make someone feel loved without buying into your viewpoint Mr Salesman.
In related news the police are sending out valentine cards to over one thousand ‘bail bandits’, according to Midlands Today TV. Yes, you heard that right. Instead of walking up to said jail-birds-to-be and arresting their sorry ass, they’ve commissioned a design agency to create Valentine cards, and posted them off. Some of these people are on serious charges, and all of them have skipped bail, which I think goes some way toward indicating a likelihood of guilt. While I’m sure the irony of sending a valentine with a message along the lines of “you’re in breach of bail, see you soon, kiss kiss” is something worth a grim laugh, I can not believe the idea got further than the mouth of whoever thought it up. Would police time and money not be better spent knocking on their door and forcibly removing them from their little sanctuary? It’s clear the police know where they live…
In other news my friends rock. I just thought I should say.