Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day's a funny bugger isn't it? It has that air of Mother's Day about it (that's not a Ya ma! joke), where you dare not miss it for fear of hurting those that you care about, but the vows of affection seem to feel slightly cheapened by being emotionally black-mailed into the least spontaneous display of affection possible. That's been my view on it for a while, that it's a bit forced from the inside, and a bit of a cheap trick from the outside. Like being the baddie inside a Disney film, who no one knows had their heart trodden on before turning into a cynical prince and princess detesting love-terrorist.
I Don't Know What I Can Save You From
'I think boys put too much emphasis on just doing what they think they should and spend money on cards and meals, when really it should just be something romantic.'
Hmmmmmmmm...mmmmmmmmmmm...mmmmm.....hmm, I take my boyishly Oliver style hat off to you Phil (actually a girl) and feel a bit daft for not reaching the same realisation earlier. It might be my experiences, my beaten spirit, or my dormant heart, but I think that's the kind of outlook I had when I whole-heartedly believed in things, instead of just whole-heartedly trying to. Although I'm not quite ready to stop treating love like the powerfully hopeless and hopelessly powerful bastard that it is, if I did, I think I'd remember that outlook on Valentine's Day, and give up the half-arsed, doing the same as every Saturday night stance, which probably only serves to exemplify just how stagnantly habitual you've become.
Valentine's Day's a funny bugger isn't it? It has that air of Mother's Day about it (that's not a Ya ma! joke), where you dare not miss it for fear of hurting those that you care about, but the vows of affection seem to feel slightly cheapened by being emotionally black-mailed into the least spontaneous display of affection possible. That's been my view on it for a while, that it's a bit forced from the inside, and a bit of a cheap trick from the outside. Like being the baddie inside a Disney film, who no one knows had their heart trodden on before turning into a cynical prince and princess detesting love-terrorist.
I Don't Know What I Can Save You From
'I think boys put too much emphasis on just doing what they think they should and spend money on cards and meals, when really it should just be something romantic.'
Hmmmmmmmm...mmmmmmmmmmm...mmmmm.....hmm, I take my boyishly Oliver style hat off to you Phil (actually a girl) and feel a bit daft for not reaching the same realisation earlier. It might be my experiences, my beaten spirit, or my dormant heart, but I think that's the kind of outlook I had when I whole-heartedly believed in things, instead of just whole-heartedly trying to. Although I'm not quite ready to stop treating love like the powerfully hopeless and hopelessly powerful bastard that it is, if I did, I think I'd remember that outlook on Valentine's Day, and give up the half-arsed, doing the same as every Saturday night stance, which probably only serves to exemplify just how stagnantly habitual you've become.
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Cynicism and irony would smugly have you believing that, 'Actually mate, Valentine's Day is the least romantic day of the year, because it takes away a huge portion of what makes romance so amazing? Yeah? The spontaneous and surprising display of genuine affection. It's like, not spontaneous? It's not surprising, and you don't know for sure whether it's genuine, especially if they give you a card and then un-pause their The Notebook DVD. So don't bother mate, don't believe in it, it's a mugs game.' That may all be true, but no one reads non-fiction romance, do they? Surely people need to believe in something worthwhile?
Prepare to vomit: Valentine's Day might be a tax on love as a commodity, but if you're going to make money off something, then what is more worthy of your money, your time and your imagination than love? Proceed to vomit, patronised: Love might be free, but so is any emotion. There's no need to spend a lot, and there's plenty spent on divorce as a necessity, and ,although I'm at pains to mention it, war every day, so why not set one day aside for something we can all get on-board with?
Set You Free
Maybe Valentine's Day should be seen as a challenge. A day full of expected, plastic crap that challenges your imagination, spontaneity and sense of romance. A chance to surprise over tactless adversity and show the absolute, very best of you, rather than just the defeatist side. If there's anything to bring it out, it's love. Maybe just buying a card and booking a table isn't enough, maybe it's operating by habit and highlighting stagnation (I've mentioned this twice as a cheap trick, by the way). That stagnant habit might be an unavoidable truth in life, and maybe happily so, but right now it's not my idea of what it is to be in love, which might be one of the reasons I'm not. It feels like giving in, to me.
The Leaves Left and the Willow Wept.
So is romance a lazily imagined autumn leaf, that's beautiful, but ultimately dead? Or can it be contained? Feel free to show me.
Yours,
Bridget Jones.
Weirdly, when I was writing this, loads of ridiculous love songs kept playing on my play list, these felt the most fitting:
Set You Free
Maybe Valentine's Day should be seen as a challenge. A day full of expected, plastic crap that challenges your imagination, spontaneity and sense of romance. A chance to surprise over tactless adversity and show the absolute, very best of you, rather than just the defeatist side. If there's anything to bring it out, it's love. Maybe just buying a card and booking a table isn't enough, maybe it's operating by habit and highlighting stagnation (I've mentioned this twice as a cheap trick, by the way). That stagnant habit might be an unavoidable truth in life, and maybe happily so, but right now it's not my idea of what it is to be in love, which might be one of the reasons I'm not. It feels like giving in, to me.
The Leaves Left and the Willow Wept.
So is romance a lazily imagined autumn leaf, that's beautiful, but ultimately dead? Or can it be contained? Feel free to show me.
Yours,
Bridget Jones.
Weirdly, when I was writing this, loads of ridiculous love songs kept playing on my play list, these felt the most fitting:
Saint Etienne - Only Love Can Break Your Heart
Anthony and the Johnsons – Hope There's Someone
Frightened Rabbit – Set You Free
Kings of Convenience - I Don't Know What I Can Save You From (Royksopp Remix)
Friendly Fires - Paris
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