niall foster
Hearts and flowers? Heart FM (rather appropriately) presenter, Niall Foster, discusses the meaning behind the day devoted to romance…
Niall Foster presents Drive time daily from 16:00 - 19:00 on Heart 102.4. Available on102.4FM, 103FM, Digital and online at heart.co.uk
FEBRUARY 2013
Serious question do I have to ‘do’ Valentine’s Day this year? Is there not a certificate of exemption I get granted after so many years service? At point of writing I must confess that the prospect of coming up with an idea that will seem romantic and spontaneous at the same time is perhaps this year beyond me. I don’t feel any less love for my partner than I did on the first Valentine’s Day together, it is just as we approach our fourteenth together I feel I have run out of ideas and, dare I say it, the inclination to make a fuss this year. I’m not against the idea of a particular day in the year dedicated to the declaration of love, and to mark it on the day of a Roman Catholic martyr who has come to represent courtly love seems as appropriate as any. The cynical side of my nature frowns on the profiteering of card companies, florists and restaurants around this particular date but I can also appreciate that in the free market they are simply tapping in to a willing customer base. Although I will admit to buying a bunch of flowers at a random date in January and presenting them
as a Valentine’s gift ‘before the prices get hiked in the next few weeks’. Miserly I know, and I am guilty as charged there. Back to this year, I am at a genuine loss. When I think back over previous years I think I’ve covered all the bases. We’ve each had multiple goes at providing a home cooked romantic meal, we’ve exchanged all manner of gifts from the simple to the extravagant, we’ve dined out, had weekends away and one year even timed a winter sun holiday in West Africa to coincide with the date and spend Valentine’s Day on the beach. Perhaps the least memorable was the year I forgot and did the dreaded dash to a nearby petrol station for a pathetic bunch of flowers that came with a red faced apology! There was also a year very early on in our experience of parenthood that we consciously agreed to mark the date in no way whatsoever. That doesn’t feel right this year and I’m in the position of not wanting to be the one to suggest it, so this means whatever we do will have an element of repetition to it. I’ve started to think, however, that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Originality is not just difficult to achieve surely it is overrated? Surely it’s the intention and the sincerity behind any gesture that is important? I think I’ll return to some advice received from a listener last year when I asked on Heart what I could do and I was told to simply buy a bunch of flowers, present them with a hug and the words that my partner is perfect and everything I would ever want. Sounds like a plan. CS
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