Valentines, sweet valentines….. You walk down the street, girl on arm, spring in step, caught in each other’s eyes, wondering if your plans can live up to her expectations. But what should you do? Whisk her into a taxi, rush to the airport and on to an unknown destination? Venice? Paris? Clearly, the challenges faced by couples on Valentines Day are enough to put many off. As the argument goes: why treat one day more special than another? After all, everyday you spend together should be equally enjoyed.
Certainly, you can take this advice. Personally, I enjoy the renewed challenge of each Valentines. It epitomises how you feel about one another, albeit in a rather commercialised manner. But if you look past the 2 month-in-advance table bookings, the Hallmark cards, chocolate and roses, there is a sense of something beyond the superficial. Why not make that effort and go one step further than you usually would, like an anniversary or a first date? By making it different and memorable you push the boundaries of the accepted Valentine tradition.
People celebrate Valentines in different ways: some follow the well trodden path, whilst others cry off completely. They claim the dinner is like any other, the conversation no more fascinating, the setting no more romantic. But if you go out with the premise of failure or high expectations you’re bound to be disappointed. Be spontaneous, don’t book anything, don’t look for anything, just let the day take you somewhere: adventures are always more exciting than plans.
Leave your front door with no inhibitions and you will be sure to come back happy, after all you’re with someone special aren’t you? This year I’ll be venturing past all the couples, hands clasped over table-top, trying to create some semblance of a romantic moment. Who knows where I’m going to take her, perhaps I’ll head to London or even Edinburgh, or just walk out, destination unknown. I’m just asking you to think beyond the chocolate box, to imagine something new, you’ll be halfway to having a great Valentines. Now all I can do is wait, and hope I’ve persuaded enough couples to cancel their reservations, head out into the cold York air; to do something unusual and come back smiling. A different cliché? I think so!
By Chris Shaw
This valentines I shall try and forget about chocolates, roses and all thing romance related. I have had enough unsuccessful dates to last me a lifetime! Last years Valentines Day was particularly memorable….I had been seeing this guy for a little while, and all was going swimmingly, until the subject of valentines started creeping into our conversations. I was secretly well up for celebrating ( I think he was little more sceptical). The problem was that neither of us really knew how to treat each other on the day. Who was going to take it more seriously? I wondered whether to buy him a gift or was this just way too camp? We laughed together, and said what a silly day it was, but due to the tentative time in our relationship there was probably a lot that was not being spoken aloud. We were at the terrible stage where everything must be interpreted by body language and all those implicit silences.
A couple of weeks before we decided to go for dinner – somewhere low-key as way to celebrate . Whilst I should have been excited about this; unfortunately I was not! That terrible thing had happened….I had got bored. He didn’t seem quite as fun as I had originally thought and he had some habits which were really starting to annoy me. I decided to persist, valentines was approaching and if anything, this would surely get me in the mood. But it didn’t , a few days before I knew that he definitely wasn’t Mr. Right. Oh well dinner would be nice-I thought, and then a few days later I could break it off.
We had a lovely meal together where I was almost fooled by the romantic buzz into thinking that there may still be potential there. The food was lovely and then we walked back to university together. On my the walk back I started to feel really queasy,by the time we got to Heslington Road I embarrassingly had to stop and be sick in a bush. Something at the restaurant really hadn’t agreed with me, we slowly edged our way back to university with me intermittently stopping to vom up the lovely meal which he had just insisted on paying for. It was messy to say the least, and he took upon himself to stay and look-after me when we got back to campus. He was very helpful and I was very ill, and this made it even more difficult when I had to confess that I didn’t really see much of a future between us. Weirdly he was fine about it-maybe he had felt the same all along, or perhaps it was me vomiting in my hair which really put him off! I supposed it all worked out for the best really, but I think I will be sitting in by myself this February 14th that way I will definitely avoid last year’s mishap.
By Merryn Hockaday
As long-standing, hardened singletons we would like to assert that Valentines Day officially sucks!
Thelma: Thinking back to my teenage valentines dates, makes me want to cringe. Me, scantily dressed, him looked grungy. Dates to McDonalds were seen as perfectly acceptable! Louise would give me a bit of a pep-talk, remind me how “buff” I looked and off I would go. Post-Big Macs and McChicken Sandwiches, we would perhaps have an awkward fumble before I had to head home before curfew. Nothing really ever came of these dates apart from some rather bad images and a few uncomfortable moments which I doubt will ever be completely erased from my memory!
Louise: A couple of years ago I went on a Valentines date with a gentleman I shall call Mr X. We had just turned eighteen and were both keen to go out and flash our IDs about! Due to limited funds and lack of transport we decided to meet in our local; a bit of a seedy venue. For some reason tequilla suddenly seemed very exotic. The phrase ‘one tequilla, two tequila, three tequila, floor!’ comes to mind as we quickly made our way through the best part of a bottle. We stumbled out of said pub and ended up in the doorway of the newsagents. A long kiss turned into a whole lot more. We eventually managed to stagger our way back to my house. Mr. X appeared to be in an even worst state than me. Whilst I managed to collapse into my bed, he only made it to the toilet where he passed out; trousers around his ankles. Things got really ugly when my mother found him in this undignified position. He was removed from the premises and told in no uncertain terms never to come back! I was grounded for what I can remember was a very long time! Not suprisingly Mr. X and I didn’t really go the distance.
These experiences suggest one thing to Thelma and myself….this year we shall be doing Valentines dates with our favourite Italian boys, Pinot and Grigio….we might not get any love letters, but is it really worth the hassle?!
By Thelma and Louise