Love Is In the Air!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and it turns out you gorgeous people of Perthshire are full of the love!  In a bid to prove that the world is indeed more love and laughter than hate and despair we did a shout out to ask for photographs of things you love the most.  Loved ones, pets, hobbies, homes… whatever you fancied!

Judging by the response it turns out that top of the list for us Perthites is husbands and dogs… although not necessarily in that order!  For me it was a bookshelf full of my old favourites, for Holly it was her boyfriend and lovely little nephew and Rhona of course chose her husband and baby Freya (MMMM – I'm now feeling like a very bad girlfriend / parent!).

I wasn’t alone though; Valentine’s may be all about romance, hearts and flowers but our gallery proves that there is more than one kind of love.  I already knew this mind you, as my friend Kelly played me Joan Armatrading’s song of exactly that name down the phone repeatedly at 3am one drunken morning many years ago.  She of course finished her calls off with an outrageously bad karaoke version which to this day remains one of my best ever voicemails.  That and one where she left a message asking me if she liked venison.

More Than One Kind Of Love from Joan Armatrading on Vimeo.

I am a fortunate woman who is blessed with a loving family and friends who have known me so long I often forget where I start and they stop.  On top of this, I have spent a life following my dreams and wasting more than a little time indulging in my simple happy passions.  It hasn’t always been perfect, it’s not always easy but I can honestly say I have experienced love in countless ways each and every day of my 44 years on this planet.   

So whether you decide to hug your children, call your mum, make yourself a perfect cup of coffee, a or dance around naked to Justin Beiber, this Valentine’s Day make sure you open your heart and fill it full – life is far too short for living it any other way.

This poem is one I read at the wedding of one of my oldest and dearest friends two years ago. I love it!

Foxtrot From A Play
WH Auden

The soldier loves his rifle,
    The scholar loves his books,
The farmer loves his horses,
    The film star loves her looks.
There’s love the whole world over
    Wherever you may be;
Some lose their rest for gay Mae West,
    But you’re my cup of tea.

Some talk of Alexander
    And some of Fred Astaire,
Some like their heroes hairy
    Some like them debonair,
Some prefer a curate
    And some an A.D.C.,
Some like a tough to treat’em rough,
    But you’re my cup of tea.

Some are mad on Airedales
    And some on Pekinese,
On tabby cats or parrots
    Or guinea pigs or geese.
There are patients in asylums
    Who think that they’re a tree;
I had an aunt who loved a plant,
    But you’re my cup of tea.

Some have sagging waistlines
    And some a bulbous nose
And some a floating kidney
    And some have hammer toes,
Some have tennis elbow
    And some have housemaid’s knee,
And some I know have got B.O.,
    But you’re my cup of tea.

The blackbird loves the earthworm,
    The adder loves the sun,
The polar bear an iceberg,
    The elephant a bun,
The trout enjoys the river,
    The whale enjoys the sea,
And dogs love most an old lamp-post,
    But you’re my cup of tea.