Well the big day is nearly here.. Valentines day!  A very good friend, ( no my best friend ) surprised me the other day by telling me he hated Valentines' day. I accused him of not being a romantic - actually my exact words were: " Dude, you don't have a romantic bone in your body!" - to which he responded that in fact he is an old-school romantic and he feels that V-Day has been commercialised too much.

I hadn't thought much about this as I rarely give anyone anything for V-day (only because I rarely have anyone to give anything to! ) but the more I read blogs etc the more I have come to agree. I read one particular account of a person in the 'States who is giving gifts to virtually their whole family for V-day, which consist of gift baskets and the like. Call me a cynic if you like ( call whatever you like if you have the money! ) but I have come to agree with my little friend, this has gone too far!

There was a time when I was younger (and dinosaurs roamed the earth) when V-day meant a rose for the person you wanted to ask out but didn't have the guts to face. you would send her/him a rose with a little note either anonymously or with your personal message on it to meet you somewhere for a romantic date. Whatever happened to that? Now it's all about bunches of roses, dinners at top restaurants (La Scala in the city if you're in Canberra) and gift baskets for the family. WTF!?

I say we follow the advice of my good friend The Gimp and "go back, we are going the wrong way!"  Get back to the simple elegant pleasure of sending someone you care about a rose with a little note on it that says:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

frogs are ugly

and so are you!

See? it's romance, it has taste, elegance and it means someone will feel spesh. Of course if you're a single guy you can forget about getting a surprise valentine, wimmin are just not romantic at all! We have to settle for a beer on the couch and some porn on the telly; Veeeeery romantic that...not.

For all those who don't get a V-day surprise, it could be worse there might not be 364 & 1/4 other days of the year when someone might surprise you with a little something to make you smile. In the meantime if you want to romance someone and don't have anyone in mind or you want to be romanced and don't have anyone to do it for you, may I just say : DIY?

That's right folks, take yourself out to the movies and then to dinner (or the other way around) and then maybe write yourself a lovely pome and even send yourself some flowers if you're feeling up to it. At least you know that at the end of the night if you want to get lucky, you can and that the sex will be just the way you like it, whips and chains and all the trimmings.

Enjoy your V-day everyone, I know I will! Woohoo!