Table for One

Not letting the lack of a date ruin Valentine's day, I shamelessly made a reservation for one at a Japanese restaurant that I've been wanting to check out. I was prepared to be consigned to some dark corner but surprisingly the kind waitress assigned a whole table for four all to myself. Perhaps with all the couple reservations, the larger tables were left empty for once.

This isn't a food blog, so I'm not reviewing the place, but suffice to say that the assortment from the a la carte buffet kept me beaming. So there I was, sitting happily with plates of sashimi, waiting to be blasted by the amorous vibes in the air and peek at some under table action. But it never came.

Instead as I looked around, the couples were seemingly underwhelming. They appeared more interested in the menu and tapping away on their smartphones. They can't all be those socially awkward couples who text each other on dates. It's one thing to be using your phone among your friends, but to do that in a one on one setting is just putting 'uninterested' in neon.

The real happy people were the families. Maybe mummy and daddy wanted to reminisce their dating days and pretended that the kids were really annoying cupids. And the odd tables for one, of which I wasn't the only one. We gave each other the polite nod, but none approach each other cause we were all giving the 'I'm here to enjoy my quiet dinner, don't make it awkward' look.

That got me thinking if it's necessary to have a significant other to be happy. It clearly wasn't working for the case study I observed. Then what really is the point of a relationship.

I can say that I had a lovely Valentine's day - spent at one of my favourite places, working and doing the things I love, eating my favourite foods, and texting to friends I care about to catch up (probably triggered by my interesting Instagram post). It even ended with a nice dessert (that's a story for another day, and kind of goes against my point of solo pleasure, pun intended).

So to all couples out there, I hope you find happiness with your better half. Else I'm not sure what's the point. And to my future significant other, I hope you are just as happy as I am. Cause I'm not sacrificing mine for yours, and if we were to be together we better bring something more to the table.

Happy Valentine's day!