Dear LPG, 

After the togetherness that yesterday provoked, many should have that feeling of closeness and unity still bubbling inside.  Some, because of the inseparable friendships in our lives and others because of the knowledge that someone has declared a wish to have a closer relationship with them by sending a valentine’s card or present.  There is no doubt that this can provoke a warm fuzzy feeling while they work out who it was and what to do next.  All those anonymous cards that arrived with yesterday’s morning post will still be standing on mantle pieces and sideboards all over the country, while their recipients will either wake up this morning still wondering who sent the ones or one they received or with a good idea where to start looking for confirmation.

But that was yesterday and today brings its own observances.  Did you know that today, among other celebrations, has been given the title, National Singles Awareness Day?  Apparently it has only been with us since the turn of this century when a young man decided that people who are not coupled up should celebrate their singleness.  I have read that the man in question, Dustin Barnes, while still attending school in America, wanted to focus on the many young people who all were not loved up or trying to get that way.  

Being single is hard enough when you are young and free into the bargain as, while some youngsters prefer to focus on their vocations and aspirations at the beginning of their adult lives, they still have that wealth of expectation to look forward to, but the options of older singletons often become more limited.

But as he first suggested, today is the obvious day for all the singletons to pamper themselves with all the left-over boxes of sweets and flowers that are so often available on the day after such a celebration.  

I am sure that I am not surprising anyone by saying that I found a few statistics which show that in the UK the highest proportion of people that live alone are ladies over the age of 75, and that figure is closely followed by the number of men of the same age who are free and single if not so young.

It is often said that everything that can be seen in a negative way nearly always has a positive side to it.   Today has to be the day that we oldies that can boast a single person household, can appreciate the advantages of being able to know that where you leave something in your house is exactly where you will find it because there is no one else to move it,  and while we celebrate ourselves I feel it is a day to celebrate our friends even if there is no significant other in our lives.

I know that my message will resonate with a lot of LPG readers today which is why I have found a list of ways to celebrate just in case you can’t think of any yourself.   

Today is the one day in the year when indulging yourself is the way to go… 

PY, Penge.

PY shares her research 

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