Nothing has changed.
I spent the morning reading through my previous Valentine's day rants and watching some previews for today's skeleton final at the Winter Olympics. Those might seem far removed but there are parallels to be drawn. First of all, both facilitate the (voluntary) falling on one's own face. Both will captivate the whole country today, ending in either sheer elation or misery. And - most importantly given the nature of my posts over the years - both are mental.
This year I've decided to take a different approach to this post - which is apparently the 'only post people look forward to' on my blog. I am going to write a little this morning, head out for my normal day and observe. Think of me as the David Attenborough of blogging, or, at the very least, that odd nature guy from the One Show. 'And now we see an obliged young man picking through the last of the flowers as he heads home from work'; 'This gentleman baulks as he prices his wife's favourite chocolates, settling instead for the easy prey that is the reduced box of Roses'. I'm going to have fun with this.
So to this morning's portion. I opened this post by saying that 'nothing had changed', and this is true in many respects. First, I still think Valentine's Day is a farce. Why people feel obliged to show their appreciation for their other half on this particular day, I don't know. Well I do actually, and I have for a long time: because everyone else is doing it. That's still a pretty weak reason in my book though. The 'he started it' argument has been shot down for years, so why should it wash now?
Another thing that hasn't changed in the four years that I've been writing these posts is that I remain a solitary figure. I stressed in my first stab at Valentine's day back in 2011 that my reason for disliking Valentine's day was not that I was single. People don't buy that though - at least not as much as they buy stuffed animals and plastic roses. I generally get mocked about my polemics around this time of year because people think I'm sad and alone, neither of which are particularly true. I'll be counting the number of times today someone makes these observations and report back later.
For now the moment I would like to say just one thing. Today is a rubbish day and one that I doubt I'll ever fully get my head around. However, someone said something funny/interesting to me the other day which made me laugh/think in equal measure. He said that he 'loves to love'. I think if you have that bug, today should not be any different from the 13th or 15th February. I've tried to show in the past that I am of the same mind, but maybe it doesn't come across so well.
So nothing has changed and I'm glad for it. My stall has been set out once again and now I head out to see what I can find to pick apart later on. I'm going to post this part at the same time as part two because that way nobody knows I'm watching - creepy eh?
See you in part two!
Martin
