Perfect Day
Bah, who stole my humbug?
Just a perfect day
drink sangria in a park
and then later
when it gets dark we go home
Songwriter: Lou Reed.
It’s Valentine’s Day in Aotearoa, and someone is getting married today.
Probably quite a few people - it’s that time of year when we put the subtropical storms of January behind us for the endless blue skies of February.
Hmm, I can’t see much blue sky out there; it’s practically Aberdeen.
Which might sound like an odd thing to say until you read the headline: Break in the grey as Aberdeen sees sunshine for the first time in 21 days.
Imagine spending three weeks in Scotland in winter without seeing the sun; it sounds far from romantic. It looks pretty grim too, and they wonder why the Scots never let their alcohol content fall too low, and insulate their arteries against the bleak with deep-fried pizzas and Mars bars.
There will be lots of people making lifelong commitments to each other today, but the one I’m talking about is my son’s mate’s sister. Today is the third day my lad will be spending with the family, celebrating.
Each day when he comes home, I chat about what he did that day, since I've never been to an Indian wedding myself and am curious to learn more.
The main difference so far is that he and his mates spent yesterday preparing the tables in the hall where today's celebrations are taking place and running other errands. I think that’s great, including these young guys to take part and help.
I hope they have an awesome celebration and a sound roof, with predictions for this afternoon to be as wet as Chris Bishop after his failed attempt to take over the Nats.
Please note that Mr Bishop was not in the original photo posted by the PM this week, and this is not Wellington Water.
I decided not to write a newsletter today, but I thought I’d share a couple of previous Valentine's offerings for anyone who wants to take a look. Starting with me being the Grinch of Valentine’s Day back in 2023…
Fortunately, Chris Hipkins wasn’t feeling Grinchy this year and announced his engagement in October, so it will be his first Valentine's Day with his fiancée, Toni.
I wasn’t feeling very grinch-like this year either, and this is our 25th anniversary last month. With “the girl” I mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter:
If you think the Grinch newsletter was unromantic, here are some Valentine's messages from the ACT party two years ago, in 2024.
So maybe snuggle in for a movie - do you have a favourite romantic one?
Or throw on the glad rags, trim the nasal hairs, maybe even the eyebrow, and it’s amazing what you can achieve with some bright red lippy. Right, Nicola?
As I say, just a quickie today. I hope you have a lovely day with the one you love, or perhaps remembering good times if they have passed. Take care, and do hang around for the song.
Ngā mihi,
Nick.
To end, here is one of my favourite songs, Perfect Day, by Lou Reed, and each photo in this video says more of love than a thousand Valentine’s commercials ever could.
The original celebration on the 14th was much more exciting. The Roman matrons chose 2 young men to race naked throughout Rome with a whip- a cat of 9 tails- and then whip any young women they came across. This would ensure that the young women conceived that year. You can imagine the fun those matrons would have had making their choices.
This was too much for later day Christians who replaced this festival with something milder.
I just wrote a rambling piece about widowhood, amongst other things. It wasn't very good, so I swished it away! But hey, what a beautiful song! Thanks Nick.