Happy Valentine’s Day! Are you doing anything special/romantic today? There was a time, many many years ago, when I would have been bitterly disappointed not to be taken out for dinner and wooed with flowers, chocolate and champagne on February 14. These days it’s a very different story – I think the last time my husband and I went out for a meal on Valentine’s Day was 12 years ago (pre-children anyway…) and I remember us both being struck by how ridiculous it felt. There we were, in one of London’s trendiest restaurants, sitting at a candlelit table for two squashed up right against another couple’s table, so close that we could not help but overhear every word they said, ordering food off an obscenely overpriced special ‘Valentine’s menu’. Intimate? Romantic? I think not.

So now we take a more low-key approach: a nice dinner at home, a glass of bubbly or two and maybe a card or flowers. Last year my husband surprised me by transferring our wedding video (yes we got married that long ago!) onto a DVD which he left on my pillow. We hadn’t watched the footage from our wedding day for a long time so it was lovely to relive all those memories, laugh at the speeches and silly dancing.

So I’m looking forward to a quiet night in, away from overpriced restaurants and enforced romance. But just in case my other half is reading this – honey, that bottle of Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb that you bought for my birthday has almost run out…

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