Holiday Fever

It would seem that yet another holiday is being thrust down our throats; and will take over entire aisles of supermarkets once February 14th is over, can you guess what it is? BLOODY EASTER! Already the supermarkets are dedicating aisles of space to the eggs of all sizes! But for now lets stick with tradition.... St. Valentine.

My day started off with a mission to buy my boyfriend a Valentines card. I am afraid I am one of "those" people who gets a little sucked into the traditions that come along with the dreaded Vday! So having hop - skip - jumped across the crowds (only jostled by one ignorant man) of londoners determindly pounding the streets getting to work into the nearest Clintons I was faced with almost an entire store dedicated to St. Valentine! The Birthday/Thank you/Get Well and Congratulations cards had been cast aside in a cruel and violent manner into the furthest corner of the store. Being as tall as the average man and taller than the average woman I was atble to do a quick scan of the shop and figure out where I should be hustling and promptly made my way towards the "Boyfriend/Fiance/Partner" section. The thing I love best about card shopping is the discreet sideways glances you give your fellow shoppers trying to spot which card they have selected. Being the nosey cow I am I kept a very close eye on the gentleman next to me eyeing up the Partner cards... thinking to myself "if your partner is a woman she won't be very happy with you"... being referred to as a "partner" on valentines day basically means he's embarrassed to call you his girlfriend and he doesnt mant to marry you! It comes with the penalty of death by girlfriend if such a mistake is made! He'd deserve it too.

Having gone through the motions of picking out a suitable card that isnt too mushy or traditional I was pulled towards the wrapping paper section... of which they had 4 choices... bloody 4??!! This is the moment everything went wrong for me...I was carefully selecting the most tasteful design out of the 4 when some hag came along and started trying to pull out the paper above at the same time. The paper above was a horrible mirrored paper covered in glitter, and because I had crouched down to reach my paper a rain of red glitter descended upon me in said hag's haste to get to the till. I nearly sat on the floor and cried.

But I made it out alive! This followed a quick excursion into Hotel Chocolat where I purchased two chocolate heart lollies for my bloke and I to share. I try not to spend too much time in this shop anymore as the woman with the tray of chocolates is so tempting. On my last to excursions I have actually managed to say "no" when asked if I would like to try their newest flavour. My colleagues at work are convinced I go in there just to smell all the chocolates and are adamant that the time will come when I am banned or get an ASBO for inappropriate behaviour!

For anyone who has forgotten valentines day I found a link today that I thought was hilarious, and if you are a chicken lover you should definitely consider taking part... http://www.nandos.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=model.defaultnav&cat=NE4&description=Valentines. It's a chance to win a special Valentines goody bag from Nandos with all sorts of Vday themed treats inside, including a special something from Ann Summers OoooOooo *gasp*... all you have to do is go to your local participating Nandos (not many) and place an order - then say "Pick a piece of PERI - PERI passion and pull your perfect partner" to the person behind the counter to get your goody bag! I have this image in my head of an unsuspecting Nando worker who has just come back from holiday and has no idea about the competition getting completely bemused by such strange goings on!

BTW it is Pancake Day on Tuesday... or should I use the lesser known traditional name of Shrove Tuesday! Not sure how many pancakes I will be eating though as a quick flick through my Slimming World book suggests 1 pancake will cost me 21 syns! I am only allowed 15 a day... and it's two days before weigh in! Half a pancake anyone?