Romantic, or just 'ick'?

snaffled off The Ranting Gentleman with art's permission, because it says exactly what I think

Who needs Valentine's Day?

Well, possibly Hallmark, for one. Thornton's and InterFlora do well out of it. As, I'm sure, do Radisson Edwardian, the Hilton Group, and their ilk. The bump in profits is welcome, but do they need it to make ends meet? Not really.

"The lovers!" the vendors cry, bringing coal and Newcastle to mind. Lovers (should) do the little romantic things that Valentine's day implies as easily as breathing. The romance flows, spontaneous gestures of affection are frequent, songs are sung, gifts are given and bedsprings are tested the other 364 days of every year as well. So, no, the lovers could care less, and in some cases are the loudest denigrators:

"Where's the romance?"
"Romance is spontaneous. Planning it defeats it."
"If it's expected, it's meaningless."

Well, how about all those people who don't care about spontaneity, or those for whom just the effort of remembering on that one day is a significant achievement, or those who don't get any special treatment the rest of the year and value Valentine's Day for the impetus it provides? Nothing says "I don't love you" like not even¹ trying on Valentine's Day. Not very romantic, I know.

Maybe the problem with Valentine's Day is that people have come to equate it with romance.

For me, Valentine's Day is like your birthday, or Christmas; a day you can look forward to ages in advance, knowing you're going to be spoiled rotten on the day. You get to get steadily more excited, you get to wonder how your partners are going to show you they love you this year, and - best of all - you get to plan what you're going to do to show them. It's like everyone has their birthday all on the same day! And, once you're an adult, it gets the added bonus of being a guaranteed-sex day, normally the kind of sex that only happens spontaneously once or twice a year but, because it's Valentine's Day, you get to 'do something special' with forethought and careful planning.

So, romance be damned. It's clearly all about getting wet in advance. Oh, and cards, flowers, chocolates and cheap weekend breaks, of course.

¹ I'm probably as aware as anyone that not celebrating Valentine's Day is not an issue if you're consistently considerate. I've expressly used even to contrast usual behaviour with special effort, so no outraged rants about this, please.