Magic Mirror
Alexa, play ‘Reflection’ from Mulan xx Jks I’m not a Disney adult x
Alexa, play ‘Mirrors’ by Justin Timberlake (much cooler).
Happy Valentine’s, Palentine’s, Galentine’s, these are the best of times, not the worst of times. Fuck off Shakespeare xxx
As your resident chatterer of all things dating and love and singledom in the city (it’s giving Carrie Bradshaw) I am here to discuss MY DAY… it’s Valentine’s baby!
Ah, February. A quirky lil month of 28 days most years but 29 on a leap year. We love her for that, our petite queen. And what better day to celebrate love than smack bang in the middle: the 14th?
As we all know (or at least it’s what the movie Valentine’s Day taught me), Valentine’s Day is named after Saint Valentine. Our guy SV was a Roman priest/bishop around 270 AD who defied the Emperor Claudius II, who had banned marriage for young men to improve military service (he’d have loved 2026 where no one commits x). Valentine secretly married couples and was executed on 14th February, signing his final letter ‘your Valentine’ prior to his death.
So much history, so much education, don’t you just miss it from school?
You might be thinking, surely our complainer of the modern dating world is on the anti-love hype. Well, you thought wrong. I’m a complex character. You’re always going to be guessing my hot takes.
I am aware that some of you (haters, bad vibes, boring) don’t celebrate Valentine’s. Those of you who tut at the commercialisation, the capitalism, another need to spend money, prices that creep up and a day that largely is pushed by businesses. I would, however, ask, why do you hate love? Why do you push against an excuse to love? To celebrate? To cherish?
You say: “I love you every single day, so why would I only show this on Valentine’s?” Well, beloved, if you love me on every single day, that includes Valentine’s! Why turn your nose up at a day centred around all types of love: platonic, romantic, familial. Is it not nice to focus on that? I think it’s the nicest.
You don’t turn your nose up the rest of the year at any other celebrations. There is no rejection of gift giving during festive seasons, no refusing to count down as the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Day, no rejection of gracefully aging another year.
Perhaps some of you are uncomfortable with displays of affection. Perhaps some of you feel a need to rebel against love and that makes you cool. What I think is truly cool is embracing love and those you love, and seeing it all around you. If it can’t be every day that we focus on the good, can we make it just one day?
People-watching is something I do every Valentine’s Day. I love observing the love across the city.
Here are some little verbal postcards of what I saw across London this year.
A couple on the Victoria line, boyfriend sleeping with his beanie pulled over his eyes, cuddling his girlfriend. Girlfriend cuddling her pretty orange bouquet.
Men marching down the high street, armoured with bouquets wrapped in brown paper.
A father pushing a pram topped with two bouquets – one for his daughter and one for his wife, who were walking slightly ahead.
A grandmother teaching a little boy how to feed the ducks.
A couple trying to work out how to hold hands while each wearing gloves and mittens and carrying too much.
Three girlies carrying bags for life filled with bouquets.
People hugging, arms interlinked. Cheers’ing, giggling. Why tear down an excuse to celebrate something lovely?
I’ve actually included my own Valentine’s activities in these notes, but more on that another time…
My only qualm is, why not move it to June so we can have a bit of a break away from Christmas? Other than that, Valentine’s slay!
Taken from Chaucer’s Parlement of Foules:
For this was on Saint Valentine’s day,
When every fowl comes there his mate to take,
Of every species that men know, I say,
And then so huge a crowd did they make,
That earth and sea, and tree, and every lake
Was so full, that there was scarcely space
For me to stand, so full was all the place.
