Valentine’s Day. English Way

01 Feb, 2014

By Greg Williams

14 Feb – St Valentine’s Day – is soon and if you are a man and have NOT already booked something special, like an evening dining in total darkness at Dan Le Noir in Farringdon, then you are in trouble – as most place are packed already.

However, if you are with an Englishwoman or an Englishman, you are in luck: just tell your partner you will be eating at home and then secretly take the day off to prepare a very low-key but special night in. Don’t try anything shocking or new – especially for the food – but leave lots of time to enjoy things. A good ‘couples’ video like ‘ The Thomas Crown Affair’ or ‘Notting Hill’ is fine – but no television. Have two or three bottle of wine on stand-by but perhaps drink only half…

For the fact is that English people are remarkably low-key when it comes to love and romance and are delighted to eat something leisurely, cuddle up on a sofa, then sneak off to bed early. One tip: include preparations for breakfast afterwards and get up in a good mood. ‘Nice’, in other words, is enough.

English-Brazilian relationship

Indeed those of you who are in an English-Brazilian relationship need to be careful that expectations may be very different. My suggestion, given the terrible English weather in February, is to always follow one of two options: EITHER a) book in November a good (tested) restaurant experience in London or a trip to a European city OR b) stay at home and have pretty simple food – but with an excellent bottle of wine. One thing you should definitely avoid is the race to deliver something ‘high end’ in a hurry.

The down-side of this, for a Brazilian woman with an English man, is that the experience may not be sufficiently glamorous. If this is you I suggest you don’t insist on the sudden, last-minute ‘special night out’ or you could end up wet, miserable and pretty unhappy.

Of course, lots of readers may not have someone special and for you it’s much easier – just make a big night out on the town of the night before. 13 February this year falls on a Thursday, the traditional heavy night out in the Square Mile business district around St Paul’s. The bars around Leadenhall are especially good if you are looking for lots of tipsy men….

Find out more about Valentine’s Day:

14February commemorates Valentine’s Day, the day of Saint Valentine, more often known as Dia dos Namorados (Lover’s Day). Despite being a liturgical day for the Anglican, Lutheran and even Oriental Orthodox Church, the day became associated with romantic love in the Middle Ages when courting became a tradition. By the 15 ^th century people started to celebrate the day by giving each other flowers, sweet things and cards. Brazilians celebrate Dia dos Namorados on 12 June. Now we are in Europe, let’s celebrate this chance to please those we love!