Love is in the air - smug bastards

Bloody Valentine's Day again. Whose idea was that, then?
I wonder if there's scope to sue Hallmark for emotional distress? I missed the postman this morning but I passed him in town on my way in to work and he didn't seem to have my sack of mail. That's the thirty-fourth year running he's stolen my pile of valentine cards.

The woman on the radio this morning was saying that today is, after Christmas, the peak time for suicides, which cheered me up no end, particularly when she said people who were in love should remember those who are on their own and look them straight in the eyes to see if they were 'really okay'. Bloody do-gooders. I think I'm going to press my face up against a few restaurants tonight and make faces at all the couples.

Actually that's what I do most nights, which is probably why I don't get cards...

A couple of years ago, shortly after moving to Brighton, my friend came over on Valentines Day so I took her for a romantic meal out - but everywhere was booked up, so we ended up in the local fish and chip restaurant (and enjoyed it immensely if I recall. Battered cod as an aphrodisiac - who'd have thought it?). But it seems that if you want to go out for a valentine meal you need to book several weeks in advance. Yet according to this same woman on the radio, the two weeks before and after valentines day are the time when most relationships break up. So logically, there should be a fair proportion of cancellations in restaurants tonight so if you happened to pull someone in the past couple of weeks (or even on the way home tonight) you might be in with a chance. Dead man's shoes, and all that...

Ho hum.

The report below is quite interesting, though it'll be interesting to see who funded the 'research' (note to self: must save academic career by looking at calendar and picking a research topic that will be lapped up by the papers come the day). A piece of research from Wales that said the last Monday in January was mathematically the most depressing day of the year (and came with a formula to prove it) and was covered in just about every media outlet over here was, it turned out, funded by Rupert Murdoch's Sky Travel TV channel! Mmm...

Still, it's worth a try, this online dating lark, so as an experiment - purely for science, you understand, I've decided to give it a go. I shall report back as soon as anything happens.

BBC NEWS | Education | Online dating 'good for romance': "Dating websites can give people a 'surprisingly high' chance of long-term romance, suggests a study published on St Valentine's Day.

Some 94% of UK online agency customers questioned saw their 'e-partner' again after the first face-to-face meeting.

Bath University psychologist, Jeff Gavin, surveyed 229 adults, finding web dating worked 'for many people'.

But he told BBC News that 4% of those customers who took part in the study 'were already married'. (Read more)"