Seeing red

Valentines Day is mentioned in Shakespeare - in Hamlet when the mentally deranged Ophelia sings:

Tomorrow is St Valentine's Day,

All in the morning betime,

And I a maid at your window,

To be your Valentine:

Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,

And dupp'd the chamber door;

Let in the maid, that out a maid,

Never departed more. "

And today, 400 years later, we have bunches, boxes and baskets of red roses for sale at Woolworths store in Meadowridge. And inside are chocolates, candles and canapes for a seductive dinner. And big adverts (not in Woolworths though) with lines that start something like "Score tonight, treat her to some (insert 'holiday', 'spa treatment', 'perfume' or whatever) ...."

Nothing new in the world eh?