Roses are Red

Monday is Valentine's Day. Over the years, I've developed a kind of love-hate relationship with it. On one hand, it's good to have an opportunity to tell someone how you feel (whether they're your partner or not). On the other, it puts a lot of pressure on you to give and receive the biggest and best Valentine's gifts of the year. This is my list of its pros and cons:

Pros

• Receiving a Valentine's card from someone you didn't know fancied you. Even if you don't fancy them, it's still a lovely compliment. On the rare occasions when this has happened to me I've been really touched.
• Spending a day being unashamedly loved up, without worrying about scornful looks from old ladies.
• Buying presents. My favourite part of Christmas is chosing presents for people, so this is just a continuation really. Over the years my boyfriend has been on the receiving end of endless stupid, soppy and sometimes downright rude presents. I'm not too sure what he makes of it all - I normally end up eating all the chocolate myself anyway - but it's fun to buy.
• Secret Cupid. Like Secret Santa, but... okay, you've got it. We're doing it in our office this year and it's really quite disturbing buying a Valentine's present for your boss.
• Receiving presents. I don't think that really needs an explanation...

Cons

• Not receiving anything. It's strange how, even when it's perfectly obvious that there is no-one in the world who would ever conceive of buying you a card, you still feel a thrill of excitement when the post comes through the door. And then your hopes are dashed. Year. After year. After year. It may be eight years since I was last single, but I still remember. Oh yes. And even when you're in a great relationship, there's still a tiny part of you that hopes for a secret admirer aswell. Why not? It'd be cool.
• Trying hard not to be a smug married. I do try. Really I do.
• The weird tackyness of shops. Generally, I like tackyness in all forms, but it's beginning to grate a bit this year. Surely there must be some shops that have nothing to do with Valentines Day and therefore don't need a special Valentine's display.
• The feeling of despair the day can put onto single people. Although I love Bridget Jones, I think it's important that women realise that being single is perfectly valid. There's no point having a partner unless they're really worth it.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody. In the words of my role model Oprah, I love you all. Each in your own special (perhaps sordid) way.