"MartinS" <m...@my.place.invalid> wrote in message
news:nw_rr.4267$x11....@newsfe21.iad...
It can be difficult having your own personal reason to celebrate on the same
day as a general celebration, if you follow. If Libby had taken you out, I'm
sure she would have hated people thinking she was your mum! (Now if it had
been *Father's Day*...)
Speaking of occasions when people are celebrating, about twenty years ago I
had to go down to Chesterfield for work reasons. (I had to do it on several
occasions but this was the very first time.) My train arrived in the early
evening so I checked into my hotel, freshened up and decided to go for
something to eat. I was in the mood for Chinese food so I looked in the
Yellow Pages and found a restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. I
went there and asked for a table for one, and got an odd look from the
waiter. They found me a table and I ate my meal, but was conscious
throughout of the other customers continually glancing over at me. I began
to worry that I had a smudge on my nose or something like that but didn't
pay too much attention. I finished eating, paid my bill and walked back to
the hotel, then switched on the TV in my room. And the presenter said
something that made the penny drop.
It was sodding Valentine's Day! The restaurant was full of couples out for a
romantic evening, and there I was, eating on my own, and for all the world
looking as if I'd been stood up! The only good point is that I didn't
realise until afterwards, or I'd have slid under the table in humiliation...