For the third day in a row I woke up to find snow on the ground. It’ll probably be gone by this evening though if the last two days are anything to go by. It seems we have shy snow here in Karlsruhe – it will only fall when no-one’s around to see it.
So apparantly it’s Valentine’s Day today. So the internet keeps reminding me. Facebook, Amazon, even Hotmail. Yep, 14th February and the flowers the boy got me for our “anniversary” are completely dead – I’ll be throwing them out as soon as I get dressed (have to take them outside you see). I wonder if that’s symbolic?
♥ ♥ ♥
I’m never sure what to think about Valentine’s Day. On the one hand it is nice that there’s a day for couples all over the world (or at least those parts of the world where people believe in it) to celebrate their love for one another. Or for shy people to finally tell the person they’ve been lusting after how they feel… anonymously of course, for that is the real point of Valentine’s Day, is it not? Buuuut, on the other hand… all those who despise the day as just another way for the shops to make money are right as well. I don’t know how it was years ago, but these days it really is horribly commercial. And as for most of the gifts the shops have on offer? I’d probably break up with anyone who dared present me with them! However, most years the boyfriend and I do celebrate Valentine’s Day. At least we have on the years we’ve actually been in the same country. We don’t do much, after all it is not even two weeks after our “anniversary” (is there really no other word I can use for the day we got together?!). But we do do something – usually just a slightly nicer meal than usual and I get a box of chocolates. (He gets whatever I felt like buying at the time. Last year it was a magnet with a quote from “The Little Prince”. This year he’s getting the Cookie Sutra because I found it hilarious! (The one he’s getting has a nicer cover than the one I linked to). The meal together won’t be happening though – he went away on Wednesday, first to Düsseldorf to watch Germany play football (apparantly it was a boring game but a great atmosphere) and then to Minden for work. And since he’s up at that end of the country anyway he’s coming back to Karlsruhe via his parents and won’t be home until Monday night.
♥ ♥ ♥
Anyway, in honour of the day of St. Valentine I thought I’d post my favourite poem (and probably break several million copyright laws in the process. (Please nobody sue me – I’ll take it down if you ask!))
Now, I always thought this poem was by Carol Ann Duffy (I swear that’s what it said in our GCSE anthology which is where I first saw it!) but the one copy I found online claims it’s by Liz Lochhead. Either way it’s brilliant and expresses exactly how I feel about this day. Here’s the poem…
I Wouldn’t Thank You for a Valentine
I wouldn’t thank you for a Valentine
I won’t wake up early wondering if the postman’s been.
Should 10 red-padded satin hearts arrive with sticky sickly saccharine
Sentiments in very vulgar verses I wouldn’t wonder if you meant them.
Two dozen anonymous Interflora red roses?
I’d not bother to swither over who sent them!
I wouldn’t thank you for a Valentine.
Scrawl SWALK across the envelope
I’d just say ‘ Same Auld story
I canny be bothered deciphering it –
I’m up to hear with Amore!
The whole Valentine’s Day Thing is trivial and commercial,
A cue for unleashing clichés and candyheart motifs to which I personally am not partial.’
Take more than singing Telegrams, or pints of Chanel Five, or sweets,
To get me ordering oysters or ironing my black satin sheets.
I wouldn’t thank you for a Valentine
If you sent me a solitaire and promises solemn,
Took out an ad in the Guardian Personal Column
Saying something very soppy such as ‘Who Loves Ya, Poo?
I’ll tell you, I do, Fozzy bear, that’s who!’
You’d entirely fail to charm me, in fact I’d detest it
I wouldn’t be eighteen again for anything, I’m glad I’m past it.
I wouldn’t thank you for a Valentine
If you sent me a single orchid, or a pair of Janet Reger’s in a heart-shaped box and declared your Love Eternal
I’d say I’d rather not be caught dead in them they were politically suspect and I’d rather something thermal.
If you hired a plane and blazed our love in a banner across the skies;
If you bought me something flimsy in a flatteringly wrong size;
If you sent me a postcard with three Xs and told me how you felt
I wouldn’t thank you, I’d melt.
And that… those last two lines… expresses everything I feel so much better than I ever could.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.
Confuzzledom 