Where does Valentine leave the men?

It is 8.30 am on February 14 and everyone is at their desks ready for a new day, with no single sign that the office would be painted red in a few hours.

A messenger walks in with a very big bouquet of roses in a basket and heads to the corner lady. All the ladies in the office look at her in awe, wondering when their time will come.

Outside, there are funny red structures that have been put up in all the streets with florists hawking red roses packaged in different sizes probably to accommodate the different sizes of love. This makes take a mental note that Valentine’s day is getting overrated.

A friend told me it’s no longer Valentine’s day here in Kenya, it is women’s day - they demand to get flowers and chocolates while the guys get nothing, not even a card.

Forget

A male colleague yells that if no one gets flowers or gifts by 11am, then they should forget about Valentine.

True to his word, by 10am the office is awash with flowers with some ladies having more than one bouquet.

The one question that keeps ringing in my mind is how can one woman receive more than one bouquet of roses? It is either she has more than one man in her life or she bought one for herself fearing disappointment.

Men on the other hand were the pressured lot who wished that the day never was. If there are things men would rather not do then one is carry food, and two, carry flowers.

Valentine’s day therefore turns out to be very expensive for them because not only do they have to buy the flowers and the gifts but have also to pay for delivery services.

Being mid month, not very many men can afford this. As such, most are getting the silent treatment from the women in their lives.

Venting

This state of affairs mostly affects those who are five years and less in their relationship, because you’ll hardly spot an older married woman venting for not getting flowers on Valentines Day. Their experience has taught them that love cannot be confined in one single day and whether the flowers come or not nothing changes.

As dusk set in with a heavy down pour, the hawkers were still as busy in the streets hawking the roses the same way they do with umbrellas only that this time round the roses were more than the umbrellas.

It is a relief to many young men that the day is gone until next year, but is it really worth the trouble to prove one's love for their partner in a single day?