Love is in the air....

... every time you look around; a completely nonsensical lyric designed to irritate the cynics of this world, as indeed was Valentine's Day. A commercial circus without which, however, the red rose industry would wither and die, and sales figures at Hallmark would take a nosedive. You can probably guess by now that Bovinia is an exception to the rule - you would never know that it is February 14th at all, unless you check your calendar, of course. The only reference to the day of love appears in the flyer for our local supermarket. Right at the top of the page there's a gaudy reminder: "Valentinstag - 14 Februar" surrounded by blurred red hearts. Directly underneath is a technicolour pastiche of fishfingers, washing powder and dog food, all at discount prices and guaranteed to set pulses racing. I shall have to pop in there later and get CG a tin of Pedigree Chum.

Over the years, CG and I have reached an uneasy truce concerning Valentine's Day and the obligations attached. So when he asked me yesterday if we could "do the card thing after work tomorrow, not before", I knew this was man-speak for "haven't bought the damn thing yet so please don't embarrass me by giving me a card tomorrow morning" and nodded graciously. Then I said he didn't have to get one, which is woman-speak for "no card, you die", as most men must know, and if they don't know that by now, they'd better learn fast for self-protection purposes. (Do they teach you things like that at pre-marital counselling? They should!)

I did have a card already, but that was in case he turned romantic on me (I mean, even more so than usual, in case he's reading this at work). I guess I'll scribble a few lines in it now and put the envelope next to the dog food to greet him when he gets home later.