Winners and losers of Valentine’s on a Sunday
It is that day for celebrating love again. Red is the colour of the day and this year’s Valentine’s Day also falls on a day often marked red on the calendar.
But Sunday might not be the best day for the show and exhibitionism that Valentine’s is known for.
A weekday Valentine’s is good for women to show off to workmates. Good for cheating spouses to find better excuses for two-timing. And awesome for flower sellers and dial-a-delivery companies.
Be that as it may, for every man buying flowers and teddy bears today, there will be one who will be actively ignoring the phone calls and messages from his girlfriend.
Even though it is named after a saint, some hold the perception that Valentine’s Day was ordained by a sadistic female god for the sole pleasure of women and the sole pressure of men. Which is why men, even the ones in the most loving relationships, will be spending the week forwarding witty memes to each other on how best to “get out of the trap that is Valentine’s Day”.
Women, on the other hand, are likely to be sitting pretty waiting to count the many ways in which he could mess up — be it saying the wrong things, buying the wrong gift, choosing an unsatisfactory present or simply forgetting about the day.
An entire industry has been borne out of this, where commercials run on full speed all week with tag lines like: “Only one thing will make her smile this Valentine’s: *insert product name here*” and the more obnoxious “don’t say it with words, say it with *insert product name*”.
“ZERO SEX”
However, it seems not everybody is a fan of Valentine’s. Over 300 university students were on Saturday protesting in the streets of Nairobi to call for “zero sex” this weekend, apparently discouraging those who link the day to intimacy.
The students donned in white T-shirts took the Central Business District by surprise with placards calling for “free sexual immorality” as they had decided to maintain purity “until marriage.”
“I want my fellow youth to know that sex is sacred and should only happen when I say ‘I do’ to the person I will spend the rest of my life with. We know with Valentine’s on Sunday some of our peers might think it is time for sex. It is not. It is a sin,” one of the demonstrators said.
You may wonder why “how to be single” would have become such a hot search topic on Google. But if you look further on the Internet, you will realise that the days leading up to Valentine’s have been characterised by several suggestions, especially on how men can evade women.
Arsenal fans have also declared that today will be a day of reflection as their favourite team will be facing table leaders Leicester City in an English Premier League match at 3pm local time.
Now, there are a lot of things wrong with Valentine’s Day being on a Sunday, for all parties involved.
1. Delivering gifts becomes that much harder
See, if the relationship is new, and you do not yet know where the other person lives, you are unable to send a huge bouquet of flowers, artfully arranged around a bottle of wine, to the office where the object of your affections works. Being a Sunday means that you now have to carry the flowers yourself to the venue of a date, something your fragile masculinity will have a hard time dealing with.
2. Receiving gifts becomes that much harder
Let’s not lie, even better than the feeling of being loved is the feeling of other people knowing that you are loved. Human beings are shameless exhibitionists. Being Sunday means that you cannot display your freshly delivered bouquet on a prime position on your desk. Now you have to go to the trouble of taking photographs. And the person you want most to impress is not even on Instagram anyway.
3. Selling flowers becomes that much harder
Spare a thought for the flower vendor who will be forced to set up shop in the estates because you lot do not come to town on Sundays. So while on past Valentine’s he made brisk business selling flowers on the streets, he now has to hawk his wares right outside your door. At least make sure you give him a good price for all his troubles.