8:30pm, February 14th 2005, restaurant in South London...

...girlfriend in excited voice, "Shall we give gifts now then?"
Me - "Yeah why not then. Now, before we do, I know you said not to go overboard, so mines only a little thing really."
Her - Yeah, me too"

Now I think it's important for me to point out at this point that I was already a little concerened that this relationship was not heading in the right direction, and hence had struggled when it came to buy a card and suitable gift that lunchtime. All the cards were very plain, and full of the usual lovey dovey rubbish, so I thought safer to go for the amusing option, rather than say something that wasn't true.

My gift from the g/f? Nice little gift bag, and subtle card, in which she'd penned a touching message, which amongst other things talked about how she loved being with me and how I made her happy. Inside gift bag, a lovely pair of cuff links, because I'd recently lost the pair my parents had bought me for my 21st birthday. Thoughtful and touching, she'd done well.

My gift for her? A dirty magnetic poetry kit and a card with a joke about a "man sausage" and a (traditional) question mark scribbled inside it.

I think it's fair to say that this was the moment I realised I definitely had to say something.
(Bueller, Thu 21 Jul 2005, 18:18, Reply)