Today being St Valentines Day, my thoughts bend towards love and all matters amorous. Since meeting Ann, this day has taken on a new meaning for me, because it is important to her. Thai's seems mercifully free of the the kind of weary cynicism that Westerners bring to festivals. With the exception of Anzac Day, which is almost religious in its reverence, few celebrations escape the withering analysis that Australians bring to events that have been hijacked by consumer capitalism. St Valentines Day is one such event on the calendar.

The person after whom the day is named was a Christian martyr, a priest in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians before meeting his own demise on the 14th February 269 AD. He became a Saint in the Latin Church and has had his own Feast Day since 496. His relationship with love in the modern sense is obscure at best, though sources suggest he came to be associated with the tradition of courtly love in the Middle Ages. What he would make of all the frippery of hearts, roses, chocolates and dinner reservations is anybodies guess, but I suspect, not much at all.

But for Ann this is a significant day, because she takes love, commitment and relationship very seriously and so do I. Today we will have a Valentines lunch at Finn and Co in Springwood and tomorrow, a post-Valentines dinner in the city. Here she is in the midst of the day, as beautiful as ever.