Saver the sounds, the sights and the day…

Dear LPG,

Did you know that today is international kissing day?

We all know that people have been indulging for many years and that there are many ways to kiss and meanings and messages that can be conveyed with one.   Apparently the Romans used a kiss to show the public agreement of a transaction at a time when most people could not read or write, and we all know about the resulting consequence of the one that Judas gave to Jesus in 33 AD.

The French do the ‘on the cheek’ thing as a greeting and they are not alone in that practise while we oldies have been getting our children and grandchildren to offer them by proxy for us since time immemorial.  Transferring a kiss to another is often accepted as a display of love and it is taken for granted that they offer one perfect way to show forgiveness or the end of a disagreement.   How many times did your parents ask you to ‘Kiss and make up’ when you were young?  And some of the most poignant and significant kisses that we tend to give or witness are the ones offered before people leave each other for a long period of time or the one that reminds you how much you have missed someone after an equally long period of absence.  I always get that warm fuzzy feeling when I see that scene from the film that I will always site as the quintessential kissing film, ‘Love Actually’. 

There is the definitive and now less liberally used doorstep-kiss that was usually seen in classic films where the story-teller was trying to convey that there was harmony between a husband and wife as he went off to work (of course that has gone by the board now that wives are as likely to be off to work as well), or perhaps it is the case that such practises have become more intimate with the necessity for them to be given and accepted before the front door actually gets opened; and so far I have only discussed the more public display of affection, or not, which is the kiss.

We all know, or will never know, about some of the private ones which are exchanged and I am sure that each and every one of us have experienced a few intimate ones that we don’t really want to go into detail about, but cherish the memory of as the years go by.

I wrote this message on National Kissing Day 2020.  That was a little too late for it to be included for last year, so I sent it to LPG in the hope that they will post it for the 2021 event.

The saddest thing is that, this time last year any sort of kissing was a definite ‘no no’.  The little action that we so take for granted when we give them to, and receive them from, our spouses, children, grandchildren and friends had been prohibited because of the Virus the whole world was living through, and I might be wrong but even though I am writing this a year in advance of the day I want it to be published, I suspect that we could still be living in a world where many kisses will be off the menu.

So, if we are still living in a Covid-19 influenced world today, can I suggest that we work out how to administer the virtual kiss, write lots of ‘X’s and find the ones available on your smart phones and computers, and use them liberally today and until we are all allowed the hands-on, or should I say the lips-on version again? 

Remember that while we cannot employ our sense of touch at the moment the sound of a kiss is pretty unmistakeable too.

SD, Deptford

SD offers some information on kissing, and its historical and geographical significance …

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…and LPG found the scene from the film that we think he was referring to…

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