Zoe Williams, a columnist for the Guardian, is looking forward to her first Valentine's Day as a single person since 1994, describing the occasion as 'a belter'. She plans to spend the evening at the pub with her 89-year-old uncle, whose birthday falls on 14 February, after initially making plans with two married friends.
Williams wrote that she had to reschedule her plans with the married friends when her uncle decided last minute to celebrate his birthday. She noted that it would be unwise to tell her favourite 89-year-old that she could not make his birthday because she was holding out for his 90th.
She described her relationship with her uncle, whom she greets with a shout of 'HELLO UNCLE RICHARD', a tradition that began in 1978. Now aged 52, she continues the tradition, only louder, as he is now deaf. The pair will go to the pub, avoiding the price-gouging restaurants typical of Valentine's Day.
Williams wrote that she did not anticipate how much she would enjoy telling her friends' husbands that she was going out with their wives on Valentine's Day, seeing their astonished expressions. The rescheduled get-together with the married friends will take place the next day, making what she calls the best Valentine's weekend ever.
