Valentine's & Halloween, Days Of Masquerading.

Cupid only once a year?

A slight cynic here. Valentine's seems to have morphed into a day of spending outrageously on professing love to your other half. Love, that by rights shouldn't carry a price tag with it.

Already it starts with honeyed words, photos of gifts received, fancy dinners booked and engagements announced on the town's square or rather Facebook. Does real love really need all that public display? Or is it only displayed for the public?

Valentine's should be every day. Love isn't expressed by big presents, over sweetened poems or a fancy night out. Love is expressed by the little things. The everyday things. The things we don't share publicly because we think they are just normal. Yet, this is the glue that makes a romantic start to a relationship turn into a lifelong love affair.

• Making breakfast for the other half who perhaps isn't fond of getting up early.
• Bringing a cup of coffee to the bedside when it's darn cold outside and it is so jolly difficult to separate from the warm duvet.
• Making the proverbial chicken soup when the other one is sick.
• Letting each other just be, you know, not making the other one change the way they are.

Look, the list of little things that show love is endless and it shouldn't have to be a thing that needs to have bells and whistles to look good online.
Perhaps it is this con game of love must be glamourous that is the cause of the prolific rate of divorce. It seems that not many are satisfied with normal and are always on the lookout for the gold plated relationships, those that look good to others but are not that nice to live within.

Spoil your love with deeds that don't need to be announced to all and sundry. Oh, and not just on Valentine's...

Biggi