Valentine's without a dress code

I'm glad to have spent a Valentine's Day away from the overpriced-dinner-and-flowers thoroughfare that countless couples (and hopefuls) fork out their dough for. No primping for the Big Date, no popping antihistamines in case of allergic reactions to flowers.

While the day started less than satisfactory with me chaperoning my mum from 9am until mid-afternoon, it improved dramatically after that. Kelvin-and-Daphne's Valentine started with Kelvin giving me my card and receiving his gift. Check out my card - I guess he likes me this way!
I'd made him little magnets by attaching photos we'd taken together to black foam backing and glued on pieces of magnet. Sounds simple, but took a great deal of time. The magnetic board is a simple one from Ikea. The card I picked out for him was not the prettiest, but I knew it was right up his alley (true enough, he was very tickled when he saw it).

East Coast Park was our choice for a nice, long walk. In spite of the heat and humidity, we enjoyed it plenty, just strolling and talking and talking, and taking the occasional photo. I was marvelling at how nice the beach and park can look, in spite of the filthy water, nearby commercial crap like noisy rental stores for bicycles and in-line skates, and long rows of unattractive holiday chalets. Still, it was a lovely, laid-back way to spend the afternoon. Managed to take some pretty nice pics too.The vivid emerald and yellow by this path really caught my eye.

The sweltering weather was good for producing immaculate skies.

When I saw well-dressed couples and girls wearing nice dresses by the sea, I wondered what the hell they were thinking - I was wearing a comfy cami and capris and I was already feeling awfully icky. And then I saw these monks stroll by. They looked happy, anyway, chattering away.Ah, what would romance by the sea be without the essential breakwater?

We then braved a traffic jam through town to get to Book Cafe, our favourite chill-out place. To our pleasant surprise, we found two of the cafe's three couch sets unoccupied, so we eagerly snapped up one. Just in time too, as minutes after we did so, a group arrived and took the last set, and another disappointed couple had to settle for a regular table. Hence, we spent a cosy evening having a comfortable meal, reading, chatting and just chilling. We left at past 10pm when I started nodding off (I'd eaten some chocolate at 1am the previous night and the caffeine had ensured absolutely no sleep for me).

What a lovely day.

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The most uncomfortable Valentine's Day I've had was some years ago with my then-boyfriend. He'd done what he felt was the romantic thing to do, which was to make a reservation at a restaurant and buy me a bouquet of flowers. Unfotunately, I was allergic to some of the flowers and spent the rest of the evening with my eyes watering and my nose tickling unbearably. And that restaurant's idea of a reservation was a reservation to stand in line to wait for a table. A very long line it was too.

When we eventually got to eat over an hour later, I was starving and my poor allergy-stricken nose was in full revolt. The food was absolutely nothing to write home about, although the bill strenuously begged to differ. I assured the poor guy that it was a lovely evening, understanding how important it was to him that I was happy with his efforts. Sigh - yes, I lied to make him feel less lousy about the evening. (In case anyone's wondering, that restaurant was one that prominently featured a large sign facing the road that looked a lot like "Brassiere" if you weren't looking carefully. I don't know if it's still there.)