Just three short sleeps to the biggest date on any singleton’s calendar. Yep, Monday is Singles Awareness Day.

As it looms closer, I hear noises of discomfort from friends.

Most will assure you they hate Valentine’s Day – who wants the overpriced flowers, the forced niceties, et cetera?

As a couple, it’s not all that much fun all the time either. Restaurants are a sea of silent tables for two on the Valentine set menu. Presents create pressure. Messages can get lost in translation.

“I’ve hated Valentine’s Day ever since I thanked the wrong guy for flowers one year,” says E.

“The card was signed: ‘From You Know Who’. How was I supposed to know that didn’t mean the guy I was seeing at the time?”

Her flowers turned out to be from a secret admirer at work. Meanwhile, her panicked boyfriend turned up later with a sad-looking, last-left-at-the-florist bouquet, not wanting to be outdone by an unknown rival.

Now, coupled up or single, she besmirches the Valentine trend.

So what to do if you’re a Valentine-hater?

Ironically, you’re not alone.

For one, stay away from restaurants or other vaguely romantic venues.

But that doesn’t mean you have to stay indoors.

If you’re leaving the house, gravitate to decidedly unsexy places.

One Twitter follower has an appointment to donate blood on Valentine’s Day. How perfect is that? It’s int he spirit of giving and she is guaranteed to be asked back for a second date.

Other suggestions include the bowling alley; a pool table at the local pub; anywhere that serves German food (let’s face it, you’re not going to find many loved-up couples sharing a sausage and sauerkraut).

But if bloodletting, bowling and bratwurst aren’t your things, and you’re feeling festive, get a group of single friends together and celebrate.

Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love – you should be with people who adore you.

You can also be grateful that you’re not stuck in a soul-destroying, awful relationship.

Not being in a relationship on Valentine’s Day is infinitely better than being in a bad relationship on Valentine’s Day.

Alternatively, make sure you pamper yourself.

There’s a certain comfort to knowing you can provide lovely experiences for yourself without relying on someone else to do it under duress.

And that goes for any day – not just February 14.

Whatever you end up doing on Monday, I hope you have a great day and you end it with a smile on your face.

So what did you do for Valentine’s Day this year? How was it? Denis arrived home in the morning from the gym with a bunch of roses for me, then took me to breakfast at Cumulus Inc, one of my favourite brekky haunts.

Later that day, the sunshine was out so we jumped in the car and headed to wine country for an afternoon tea followed by an early dinner. There wasn’t a set menu in sight!

Everyone’s got a different idea of romance…

lets take Valentine’s Day for example. It’s around the corner (only a few weeks away) and it’s pimped out as the MOST romantic day of the year.

Whether you accept it or not, that is how most of us feel.

In a perfect world what would your partner do for you on Valentine’s Day? How do you want to be romanced?

Saying “I want him to sweep me off my feet” simply doesn’t cut it, you should be able to define what he/she needs to do to sweep you off your feet.

This romantic notion has got me thinking… This year $30 Date Night turns three years old. This means that for over three years, Emma and I have had a regular date night.
At first date night was about romance; making our relationship spark. Three years later and our focus moves to “Sharing New Experiences.”

You’ll agree that many of our date reviews are far from romantic – and rightly so I believe.
I believe there comes a point when there is only so much romance one can take.

At the beginning everything is romantic, but if you do dinner over and over each night, how romantic can you make your Valentine’s Day dinner when you’ve done it so many times before?

Now I’m not saying that I’m giving up on romance, and I certainly believe that in this year’s themed resolution of “Sharing New Experiences” Emma and I can find new romantic experiences which I’m excited about. I’m just wondering…

In a world where we’ve done it all before, what would make your heart tick? Or has your Valentine’s Day routine exhausted its romantic appeal?

Happy Australia Day to our fellow Aussies!

Our very own Emma Merkas is their new Relationships Guru and her ‘How Was it For You?’ column will be published every Friday on the Flirt page of the paper. We’ll run a copy of it here every Monday for people that don’t have access to the publication. Happy reading!

Hear that? That’s the sound of hundreds of millions of red roses growing in unison… all working towards their one big day.

Of all 26 Valentine’s Days I’ve seen in my lifetime, I can remember only one of them.

Denis (my now-husband) and I had only been an official item for a few months. He didn’t strike me as a particularly romantic type, so I had been expecting zilch from him.

I nearly fell over when I found a long-stemmed red rose, a box of chocolates and a handwritten card waiting for me on the windscreen of my car.

He caught me by such surprise that I actually thought someone else must have put it there.

Mind you, I don’t remember a thing that he’s done for me on Valentine’s Day since. Which is not to say that he’s boycotted Valentine’s Day, just that the only things that tend to stick with us are the ones that surpass our expectations.

Seeing as expectations on V-day are around, oh say, stratospheric, we’re bound to be disappointed every year.

Not that anyone seems to be admitting it. Now more than ever, I’m detecting a distinct hate-vibe towards the Valentine’s Day… From couples, no less.

“I don’t need Hallmark to tell me when to do something nice for my wife,” complains my friend H.

“I think the whole idea of only being romantic/sweet to each other on one day is BS!” Messages one disillusioned Twitterista.

And while guys seem to be genuinely blasé about V-Day in general… Well. Here’s the thing: I suspect that no matter how much a woman may slander the commercialism of Valentine’s Day… secretly she wants – maybe even expects – something devastatingly romantic to happen to her.

What I do love about Valentine’s Day, commercialism aside, is that it’s a prompter for romance!

Because, when pressed, even my grumbling couples confess that romance can be a bit thin on the ground on the 364 other non-Valentine’s Days of the year.

I say just embrace the damn day for what it is. And yes, that means doing something romantic for your sweetie. That’s the point of the whole thing, isn’t it?

I know men think that the romance thing is very complicated. It’s really not: Flowers. Chocolates. Cupcakes. Jewellery. Lingerie. Candlelit dinners. Rowboats. Love notes. Picnics in the Park. Moonlight cinemas.

It may sound cheesy, but who cares? Just put a little thought into it and I promise you’ll have a glowing, satisfied Valentine!

And hey, just for good measure? Maybe try a little romance in the off-season as well.

Originally published in mX newspaper on Friday 29 January 2010.

So go on… tell us what you really think about Valentine’s Day!