Valentine’s Day is around the corner!

Spring is (nearly) sprung and a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. So said Tennyson and whilst spring is perhaps a little way away from most of Europe, in Cyprus already the spring flowers are out and people are coming out of their homes to adore the spring sunshine.
It’s time too that young men (and young women!) should be turning their thoughts to adore and especially the love of their life.
This year Valentine’s Day is rather special for it falls in a leap year and that means that girls, you can take matters into your own hands and pop the question rather than wait for dilatory boyfriends to get to the point.
2012 should see an increase in the number of proposals on Valentine’s Day, repeating a pattern that has been seen in leap years in the last decade. So guys, if you don’t need to be beaten to it, what should the scheme be for Valentine’s Day? My tips for success are to have the card on the mantelpiece or on the bedside list so she gets it when she wakes up or gets up. That’s really important because it shows straight away that you haven’t forgotten the day. Next, get flowers delivered to her place of work. From what I understand that fulfils two purposes in the mind of a woman; the obvious in that it tells her that you adore her but also enables her to have bragging rights over her colleagues but, and this is the important bit; the bouquet needs to be larger than those received by her friends! you require to carefully consider your Cyprus’ florist – are red roses too common along with too overpriced and what should be the alternative? It’s a good idea to be alternative but then will red carnations look cheap?
try other little things for her like hiding little notes or gifts in her bag. Women’s handbags are so cavernous these days that avoiding her finding it too quickly (if at all!) shouldn’t be too hard and if she misses it on the day, there’s a good chance she’ll find it at some later date and so you’ll still get the appreciative response.
In the night there’s the obligatory meal out usually beyond costly because all of the restaurants know it’s one of their biggest nights of the year. You will have had to book early or it may indeed be a less than romantic take away. That said, if the weather’s nice enough, (OK maybe in Cyprus!) there’s a sort of shabby chic to getting fish and chips and sitting on a park bench somewhere underneath the stars with champagne to up the tone and perhaps a romantic gypsy band to serenade her – as long when you haven’t kept it completely a surprise and she’s sat there freezing in a strappy dress she thought would be rather suited to the restaurant of that TV chef!
Then, if it’s the big one, what about the ring? Do you choose it and hope she likes it, or do you pop the question with a paper ring with ‘IOU one engagement ring’ on it? the trick is, keep the moments light, avoid intensity, prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Happy Valentine’s Day!