What Do Women – And Men – Really Think Of Valentine’s Day?

We offer a woman’s and a man’s-eye view of the Feast of Saint Valentine …

You want how much for those flowers?! Love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day has become part of the global calendar and good luck ignoring it. 

Shopfronts are dining out on the day, while emails advertising spray tans with headlines like ‘Fake it for Valentine’s Day’ are sliding into your inbox. 

But we want to pop a different spin on it. A woman’s perspective on the day up against a man’s perspective. And while Emily and Dave don’t speak for everyone, you may see yourself in some of their thoughts.

Woman’s-eye view: A day of celebration and (very) high hopes

I secretly love this day and if I ever pretend I don’t or that I’m ignoring it, it’s only out of self-preservation. 

You see, unlike Dave below, I am not married. I am single. Valentine’s Day can serve as a reminder that you’re not with anyone and the only flowers you’re buying are ones ‘to you from you’.

I am a die-hard romantic. The Notebook to me is still the best movie of all time (forget the fact she cheats on her fiancé). And Titanic will never sink in my heart.

So it only follows that I have high hopes for this one day of the year.

Last year I was given the loveliest bunch of flowers by a guy I was seeing with a note in French (yes, he was French). I doubt that will be bettered this year.

But I live in perpetual – unrealistic! – hope that the guy I went on a few dates with recently . . . whom I’m not overly into . . . will suddenly have a moment and think, yes I want to spend $90 on roses for Emily and get in touch with her colleagues (whom he does not know at all) to find out where she works and at what desk. So the flowers can be delivered to her right there.  

Okay, in reality the chances of that are slim.

So I thought why not take matters into my own hands and be the ‘giver’. I mean, who said that was just a man’s job?

Women as the givers

I got ahead of myself recently and went out with a guy a couple of times, decided we were certainly going to end up together and proceeded to order his Valentine’s Day gift from Amazon a whopping four weeks ago. 

Yes, I did that. 

He was a doctor working with heart surgeons. So I found a lunch bag with ‘Live organ for transplant’ on it. The idea was to have it delivered to him with a six-pack of beers in it with ice on top. 

I would have him come to reception at his work to collect it and when he opens it and sees ice on top (like a real organ would have) he would freak out . . . and then suddenly find the beers and think it was literally the best (and most memorable) Valentine’s Day gift ever.

But after date four recently I decided it wasn’t meant to be – and now my colleagues have to open the work fridge to see a ‘Live organ for transplant’ lunch in there every day.

As I said, I’m a die-hard romantic. Here’s hoping for the flowers and even if that doesn’t come about I still have my ‘live organ lunch bag’.

Love, Emily x

The man’s-eye view: The day of the year on which more people break up than any other 

I don’t wish to throw a wet blanket on what has become a global celebration of love and romance, but Valentine’s Day – otherwise known as the Feast of Saint Valentine – does nothing to whet my appetite, or make my heart flutter.

My friend Kev has a restaurant in New York, and he maintains that Valentine’s is every restauranteur’s nightmare. A sea of two-top tables waiting for couples who barely speak to each other at the best of times but feel obliged to have that special night out together. 

Kev says that the sight of couples holding hands across the table and gazing longingly into each other’s eyes is as rare as hen’s teeth in his gaff. Comparatively very little food or booze is ordered and invariably one person is left to pick up the bill or storm out without paying.

Apparently, more people split up on Valentine’s Day than any other day of the year.

The best thing about Valentine’s Day for me was the birth of my youngest daughter, Saskia. I love her to bits. 

The downside of her joining us on 14 February is that she insists on being taken out for dinner on that night. 

I have tried to persuade her to have two birthdays (a bit like the Queen) just to avoid the misery meal. Not a chance.

Romantic meals – no thanks

So we’ll be in TGI Fridays (certainly not my choice) in Guildford, Surrey, UK – witnessing young people with soon to be arthritic thumbs communicating with friends who are not in the room rather than enjoying the company of the person they are about to split up with. What fun!

I do enter into the spirit of Valentine’s Day, however, and remember to buy a card and some flowers for my wife – who has a heart of stone and always forgets. 

No, please, I am not craving sympathy. The end of 14 February for me will be spent in the company of talkSPORT Radio and a bottle of 12-year-old Macallan!

So, in the words of the song from The King and I, ‘good luck young lovers wherever you are’ – or something like that!

Love, Dave x  

So where do you fit in? Do you agree with Emily or Dave? And what are your plans?

Whatever you do today, enjoy it. And remember that love in any form is something to be celebrated.