I’ve never been much of a one for all that gushy romantic stuff, especially Valentine’s Day. But in the last year I have celebrated my birthday and Xmas, so it would seem that the celebratory landscape is changing for me. Of course, it helps that I have an adorable boyfriend who likes buying me gifts…

I’ve been reading about this Valentine’s business. Did you know that we’ve been celebrating romantic love with heart-shaped cards, flowers and chocolates since the 14th century? And did you also know that we celebrate love on February 14th to remember the martyrdom of Saint Valentine, a man about who we know little except that he was Roman, and that he took it upon himself to marry young love-struck Christian couples. The very non-Christian Roman emperor was not amused. For his crimes, poor Valentinus was beaten and beheaded. And so in honour of this, we collectively send over a billion cards to one another professing-confessing our love and devotion to each other. And probably most of us don’t really think about why.