I can’t not mention what today is with all those hearts and flowers at the top of my site. I wonder if men feel pressurised into buying cards and 
flowers to celebrate St Valentine’s Day. I suspect they do. Although it smacks of 
consumerism, many men ignore it at their peril.
I feel it’s what happens throughout the year in a relationship that makes it special. And I love to hear romantic gestures that come straight from the heart.
Take Kevin, a plasterer at my last salsa class. He has two left feet while his stunning wife Jackie is a trophy winning ballroom dancer. And, of course, she is a diva with the salsa, she would be a perfect match for Antonio Banderas.
Kevin wanted to plan something special for her 40th, so unbeknown to her, he secretly had salsa lessons – then threw a surprise salsa party – and asked her for a dance. She was stunned and is still recovering from the shock of it.
I remember reading how Michael Winner once booked an orchestra to play ‘happy birthday’ in his garden first thing in the morning to one of his past loves, how magnanimous and breathtaking.
What’s the most romantic gesture you have ever done or heard of?  I always like to be surprised, and life is certainly full of those.
I once wrote a girl a long poem with which she was ecstatic. She said I seemed to know all about her and we were made for each other. Actually I had copied it from an anthology of obscure Victorian versifiers. It was the most dreadful doggerel to start with but included a name similar to the girls so it was easy to replace that and a few other pertinent details .
It worked 🙂
After a day or two I suggested we might need some time apart to think things over…..
Didnt you read what Benn said about buying ethical flowers – to cut down on C02 – what a great excuse for all men. Sorry love, I am protecting the environment – so no flowers this year…. Not sure how well that will go down though!
Mrs Bishop instructed me some years ago, never to buy flowers on Valentines day. I pressed her on the issue, but she said she meant it. So I don’t (and have lived to tell the tale).
I like my Valentines to be funny something that will make me laugh, then i know they are on the same wave lenght as me
My card today made me laugh out very very loud and every time I look at it I cannot help but giggle…..
Aha – its my first valentines day as a married man. However I have a wedding anniversary at the start of feb and my wife has a birthday at the end – so we have decided for low key valentines.
That means I will be chef tonight for a great dinner!
Some years ago I took a single red rose to someone at her work. She couldn’t cope with the gesture.
(Ever since I’ve avoided neurotic women)
Actually, grown flowers are carbon neutral! They absorb CO2 as they grow, and emit the same amount as they decay! You can’t get off on that one!
I once fell in love in Paris but had to flee before the invading Nazis and took a stake in a small bar in Casabalanca, There I plied my trade in bitterness and self loathing thinking al the while that my lover had left me to board the train alone. Only Sam the faithful Piano Player reminded me of those heady days in Paris and then one night she walked in..well it was complicated but in the end I had to persuade her to stay with her French resistance leader Victor . I told her she`d regret it if she stayed , maybe not today , maybe not tommorow but soon and for the rest of her life……
She left with silent tears little knowing she had brought me back to life
Beat that !!!
Newmania, You are truly incorrigible, I hope your wife appreciates it. My favourite film is Dr Zhivago, there always has to be a sad ending in a good love story, we don’t seem to want our lovers to live happily ever after.
Jonathan, I can see why this is tricky for you, with three big events in one month, maybe a single red rose would be appreciated none the less. A night off cooking is certainly something to look forward to as well – with candles, soft music, a little imagination, the whole works…
Bishop Hill, If Mrs Bishop is happy, then congratulations, each to his own.
Sally, thank you for emailing me your Valentine card, with its Tesco Value theme, very funny.
Jeremy, please do not give up being romantic because of one bad experience.
I have just posted the male view of things on my site; a nice counter-balance to your post.
Personally, I think the people who get most genuine satisfaction are the card industry, catering industry and gifts industry. They successfully blackmail us all at this time of year.
I think Romantic gestures are part of the necessary maintenance of any relationship. It’s a small effort to think of them from time to time, but yields definite rewards.
I’m not sure though whether they come from the heart- or the head.
My cousin’s wife has just booked a two day trip to Nice for them in March as a Valentine’s present.
How about the Valentine card I received this morning – with a drawing of a group of Heinkels from the Luftwaffe!
The most romantic gesture was when I was a teenager and my boyfriend came to the door with one of those padded cards you could get then. It was very early in the morning and I was still in bed. I heard him say to my grandad [who answered the door] “I want you to put it by her bed for when she wakes up”. Sigh…!! Oh, and a boy scouring London to find a beautifully illustrated copy of “Sonnets From the Portuguese” for me. I still have it. And he used to buy me “midnight blue” mascara, too, because he said it matched my eyes. Sigh again…! And one Mario in Milan standing there crying as my plane left.. what a fool I was!!
Jean-Luc, what a fabulous treat for your cousin and his wife to look forward to.
Jennyta, souns very romantic, but I don’t think that beats Sally’s card with the Tesco value background.
Welshcakes, you obviously had scores of adoring admirers, I’m sure that is still the case.
Romantic gestures? There have been a few notable ones but the gesture that meant the most was after I had a bad accident. I decided I just didn’t want to go on. Real suicidal feelings for me were actually quite undramatic and simple – I simply didn’t want to live one more day as I felt there was no hope for any change in my circumstances. I phoned a friend to say an oblique goodbye but he knew me well and guessed something wasn’t right. He was on his way to work and turned around on the motorway there and then just to make sure I was ok. This was a journey of about 40 miles and what his reason for missing work? Just to make sure I was ok.
I didn’t take the bottle of paracetomol I had been staring at. But it wasn’t a tearful call for help. I realised that people who have lost hope don’t usually make a noise.
my husband proposed to me on one knee in the courtyard of the victoria & albert museum…
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Mimi, you are very lucky to have such a special friend, I’m so glad he was there for you.
Victoria, how romantic – I can guess where you spend your anniversaries! I will be happy to added as a link.
Personally, I think V-Day is the most unromantic day in the calendar.
I’d consider it far more romantic to be taken out to dinner on some random day in April than on the day when my boyfriend felt obliged to do something.
Which is why I demanded that V-Day be spent doing nothing in particular. Too, too cheesy.