Part 9: V-Day
It’s been a very loooong time since I’ve had a boyfriend on Valentine’s Day. In fact, it’s been so long that last time my dad was probably waiting up for me to make sure I didn’t break curfew. I’ve never been one of those people who was depressed to be alone on Valentine’s Day, or who ranted against it because I was bitterly disappointed in my current life situation, but I was definitely glad to have someone this year.
I hadn’t wanted to make a big deal out of Valentine’s Day since we’d just gone on vacation. I thought maybe we’d go out to dinner and stay in and watch a movie, something low key and just the two of us. As late as the day before we hadn’t even mentioned it to one another. Then when I was getting off the train last Monday and we were figuring out when we’d next see each other, I asked what we should do the next day. Kevin said to leave it to him.
The next day Kevin called and told me to meet him at Tottenham Court Road station. When I got there he told me we were going on a boat ride down the river to Greenwich. It sounded perfect to me. We went to Embankment, boarded a ferry and set off on the hour-long journey. It was a perfect day for a boat ride; it wasn’t as cold as it had been and with the sun shining it actually felt nice and warm at times on the top-level of the ship. It was my first time going to Greenwich, and it was absolutely charming. It kind of reminded me of the London I’d seen in movies, with the streets lined with cute and quirky shops, coffee houses and pubs on every corner, and happy couples strolling along hand-in-hand.
We went to Greenwich Park and had a mini-picnic with supplies that Kevin had brought with him. He gets extra points for bringing peanut butter. We walked around and enjoyed a great view of the city from an overlook on top of a hill next to the Royal Observatory. When it started to get a bit chilly we went off in search of a new way to entertain ourselves. Neither of us was hungry enough to eat, so we decided to head back into the city on the DLR and catch a movie before dinner. I asked if he had anything in mind and he sort of laughed; we’ve come to the understanding that our taste in films is wildly different. He’s a Burnt by the Sun kind of guy, whereas A Christmas Story is more my style when it comes to having a jolly time on Christmas Day, and he thinks because Kelly and I laugh at Eurotrip that our taste is somewhat lowbrow, but, I’m sorry, Woody Allen films just aren’t ever going to do it for me, no matter who says they’re classics. So when he told me that some of the films he’d wanted to see were French and Korean, I wasn’t surprised. What probably was surprising to him was that I was completely up for seeing the French one, Hidden. I enjoy a good movie, whether it’s subtitled or not. Maybe if I turn the subtitles on Kevin will give Eurotrip a chance, the snob.
The movie did turn out to be good, apart from the fact that it really had no ending. Sure, it’s called “Hidden,” but I didn’t think that should extend to the plot resolution. It was, however, gratifying when Kevin admitted that he too would have preferred a little bit more to be wrapped up. Good, it wasn’t just me being an independent movie novice. I don’t know why, but when I read literary fiction it’s absolutely fine when there’s no cut and dry ending, or if there are loose ends left flailing about, but when I go to the movies I just want everything neat and clean by the time the house lights start to rise.
After dinner we wandered around Soho trying to figure out what we were in the mood to eat. There are so many restaurants in that area it was hard to choose, but we finally settled on a Moroccan place called The Cous Cous House—and it was a good choice. The inside was positively sumptuous, with red glass lamps providing just barely enough light to read a menu by and small candles casting flickering shadows across the table, ornate silk pillows lined the backs of long benches, and dark, polished wood added to the decadent and aromatic atmosphere. I knew as soon as I sat down against one of the embroidered pillows that I liked this place, even if the food turned out to be vile. But judging by the packed tables around me, I doubted that a place that crowded could be very terrible. And it wasn’t. The food was incredibly good, from the wine, to the two starters we ordered and finally the main course. My first foray into Moroccan food will definitely not be my last. Once we’d finished we went downstairs where there was more informal seating to finish our wine. It was nice to just sit and talk for a while. We only left when we had to in order to catch the last train home.
It was a very nice Valentine’s Day. The best part as far as I was concerned was that it really was an entire day, and not just an evening. Just one of the advantages of being unemployed, I suppose. The other being that I can stay in my pajamas past noon with only a slight feeling of guilt. I prefer Kevin’s take on my situation though…I’m not unemployed, I’m a woman of leisure.
Tags: Travel
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