roses are red, violets are blue.
valentine's day is one big commercial wash. though in some countries, conservative governments ban celebrations on account of its association with christianity (which is probably a smokescreen for pre-marital relations)
during a visit to a little cathedral on a roman holiday, a place immortalized by audrey and gregory at the mouth of truth, i discovered (one of the) saint(s) valentine. he was a priest who was martyred before jesus was born, and his skull now has a home in said church.
that inspired a bit of wikipediaring and googling, where i learnt that the history of the martyrdom is actually lost. subsequently, the traditional feast day was undeclared by the catholic church.
according to wikipedia, it wasn't american greetings or hallmark who did a coca-cola santa job on saint valentine. instead, blame the english poet chaucer, who is on the record as one of the earlier sources who popularized the romantic verse. apparently chaucer wrote some poem in honour of the nuptials of some 15-year-old monarchs who would rule england. blame also the arrival of cheaper post that enabled anonymous notes from repressed victorians to be sent. they are all responsible for what, in our modern age, is the day where the average american male spends almost two hundred bucks on declaring their affections to their significant other.
my contribution to the economy on valentines day involved a bunch of calls and text messages to friends back home and a bunch of flowers to my boyfriend. the boyfriend is from the school of thought where one should show affection for one's partner every day, not just valentine's day. which really is very practical and rather lovely in theory. he does get brownie points as the first person to message me 'happy valentine's day'.
so after a horrid, long day at work, i caved in and texted spy guy to tell him i was leaving work. he'd contacted me after landing in london over the weekend and we made tentative plans to meet up on tuesday, which just happened to be cheesy day, to discuss writing a bit more. the ball was in his court to call me after work.
in the end, he finished up near midnight and cabbed down to my apartment. it was wednesday by the time he arrived, so officially, i have never, either as a single girl, or in a relationship, spent valentine's day with anyone.
there was no writing nor discussion of writing, but there was a bit of exercise. brief compared to previous encounters, but satisfying all the same.
he sleeps on his back, and snores a little. it's kinda cute. he had an early briefing so i wasn't sure if he would stay over. but he fell asleep, and thus stayed over, though i'm sure my excellent bed and bedding were a huge factor in his deciding to do so.
we drank a bit of champagne, talked about my work, then dozed off with my head on his shoulder and his arm around my waist. now, i love sleeping like this. but, being a restless sleeper, i always end up shifting in the middle of the night. or my neck gets tired.
maybe it's a sign that i cannot play nice and merge with another human being.
during a visit to a little cathedral on a roman holiday, a place immortalized by audrey and gregory at the mouth of truth, i discovered (one of the) saint(s) valentine. he was a priest who was martyred before jesus was born, and his skull now has a home in said church.
that inspired a bit of wikipediaring and googling, where i learnt that the history of the martyrdom is actually lost. subsequently, the traditional feast day was undeclared by the catholic church.
according to wikipedia, it wasn't american greetings or hallmark who did a coca-cola santa job on saint valentine. instead, blame the english poet chaucer, who is on the record as one of the earlier sources who popularized the romantic verse. apparently chaucer wrote some poem in honour of the nuptials of some 15-year-old monarchs who would rule england. blame also the arrival of cheaper post that enabled anonymous notes from repressed victorians to be sent. they are all responsible for what, in our modern age, is the day where the average american male spends almost two hundred bucks on declaring their affections to their significant other.
my contribution to the economy on valentines day involved a bunch of calls and text messages to friends back home and a bunch of flowers to my boyfriend. the boyfriend is from the school of thought where one should show affection for one's partner every day, not just valentine's day. which really is very practical and rather lovely in theory. he does get brownie points as the first person to message me 'happy valentine's day'.
so after a horrid, long day at work, i caved in and texted spy guy to tell him i was leaving work. he'd contacted me after landing in london over the weekend and we made tentative plans to meet up on tuesday, which just happened to be cheesy day, to discuss writing a bit more. the ball was in his court to call me after work.
in the end, he finished up near midnight and cabbed down to my apartment. it was wednesday by the time he arrived, so officially, i have never, either as a single girl, or in a relationship, spent valentine's day with anyone.
there was no writing nor discussion of writing, but there was a bit of exercise. brief compared to previous encounters, but satisfying all the same.
he sleeps on his back, and snores a little. it's kinda cute. he had an early briefing so i wasn't sure if he would stay over. but he fell asleep, and thus stayed over, though i'm sure my excellent bed and bedding were a huge factor in his deciding to do so.
we drank a bit of champagne, talked about my work, then dozed off with my head on his shoulder and his arm around my waist. now, i love sleeping like this. but, being a restless sleeper, i always end up shifting in the middle of the night. or my neck gets tired.
maybe it's a sign that i cannot play nice and merge with another human being.
posted by londoncitizengirl at 2:03 PM
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