h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In some countries Valentine cards and gifts are not only exchanged between sweethearts, but also between close friends...

...so if you have a friend who's also single, decide together to give each other a bit of attention on Valentine's Day!

I have to say that I too would send flowers and a card to a friend on Valentines day... especially if I knew they would feel sad at being alone whilst others around them.

I tend to look at love as being something which can be shared amongst friends... and not exclusively between a person and their partner.

A laudable suggestion, but perhaps not much use to anyone who doesn't have any close friends. And isn't the point of Valentine cards that they're unsigned? In this case aren't you just raising false hopes for your friend?

I have to say the best Valentine's day night out I ever had was a (wholly platonic) trip to the theatre with a friend (rather nobly she told her boyfriend not to bother coming to see her that day, but then again maybe she *really* wanted to see that particular play...).

Awix - the habit of not signing your Valentine's card is not common in all countries... and what do you mean by 'raising false hopes'?

A Valentine's card or gift can be a sign of love between friends as well as sweethearts, as I've tried to explain...

I would sign the card "from a friend who cares deeply for you"

I wasn't sure if the unsigned card thing was unique to my country or not. I honestly wasn't rubbishing your idea.

And, well, if I got an (unsigned) Valentine card I'd probably, despite myself and my lamentable deeply ingrained cynicism, start looking around thinking, 'Wow, someone has a thing for me, I wonder who it is?' and be inclined to look at the single ladies of my acquaintance in a somewhat different light. And eventually get quite vexed about the whole thing, when no-one followed up on the card...

Sorry again. The fault lies in me, not your suggestion...

No faults, just misunderstandings, I think...

*thinking it would be very thrilling to recieve an unsigned Valentine card*

In my wanderings around the various threads in this forum, I'm really starting to see a pattern emerge. While it is part of our nature to want to love and be loved, there is enormous social pressure applied to us to be in a conventional looking sweetheart type relationship, preferably with a member of the opposite sex.

If we don't have an opportunity to sit opposite someone in a nice restaurant looking all giddy with love (or generally lust, and possibly nerves and wind) then we feel bad, like something's missing in life or in us. We can spend all of our single life wishing to be in a couple, and then strangely we start thinking how cool it would be to have some of our single life back. Enjoy being single, make the most of it. Do something on Valentines day that celebrates your independent status. Help your fellow man, don't waste another day moping. Because to quote the old standard "comes a heatwave, you can hurry to the shore, comes a summons, you can hide behind the door, but comes love, ain't nothin' can be done..." Then you can enjoy being in a couple and not look back.

F-Reek out