How romantic

My roommate and I were contemplating over a chapati breakfast yesterday what the provenance is of Valentine's Day. We were at a loss.

Then last night we were driving down the road and there were giant snails scattered along the road's margin: meeting, greeting and awkwardly multiplying, as snails will do. My roommate suggested that perhaps Valentine's Day began as a molluskan holiday - marking the time of year when snails crawl out of the mud to seek brief romantic trysts. After all, isn't that essentially what we do?

I noticed when I woke-up this morning that a lizard in my room was making some kind of call I only remember hearing once before - a vocalization which sounded something like the tapping of fingernails on wood. I wondered what he was saying and whose attention he was trying to get, and I couldn't help but think that he, too, woke-up alone on Valentine's Day. It's not the worst fate, but it's worth tapping your fingers about.