REAL love

Up until recently, Valentine's Day wasn't really a big deal in Australia. It was just that holiday that people overseas celebrated, mostly in Hollywood movies, and specifically in romantic comedies.

Sadly, just like we have with everything else, we've given in to the commercialism and Valentine's Day has found me watching desperate looking businessmen hurriedly clamoring over over-priced roses in the supermarket on their way home.


I don't really buy into the whole drama of Valentine's Day - I couldn't care less if I spent the day alone or with a loved one. But given that it's Valentine's Day, I feel that I have to share some kind of story that is vaguely related to love, so here goes!


I've gotten into a sort of routine - or tradition is probably a better term - when I get a haircut. I usually have my appointment on a Thursday evening at around 6pm. This means I go straight from work to the hairdressers without having dinner. Luckily, the hairdresser is right next door to a Noodle Box. I never go to the Noodle Box any other time - they're way overpriced and I'm usually too impatient to wait that long for noodles. But after I get out of my hair appointment, I'm feeling good and relaxed, so I wander next door and pick myself up a seafood laksa for dinner. This has become somewhat of a tradition.


My favorite part of this routine is not the food - it's the little Chinese man who cooks the food for me.

He speaks barely a word of english, and what he does speak is very hard to understand, but for some reason, he LOVES me. He always greets me in what I can only describe as an excited way when I enter the shop, even if he's busy tucked away behind the counter frying noodles. If he's standing anywhere near the register when I walk in, he'll attempt to take my order, even though he clearly has no idea what he's doing. He gives me free prawn crackers and asks me just how specifically spicy I want the food. I sit down to wait for my order, and when it's done, he brings the paper bag around the front of the counter and hands it to me personally, all the while with a big smile on his face.He ushers me over to the plastic utensils and asks me if I want anything, then waves me off as I leave with the huge smile still all over his face.

I like to think that it's just me that get's this treatment - maybe because I'm an oddly regular customer - Seafood Laksa, spicy, every 8 weeks at around 8:30pm. Or maybe it's the fantastic confidence that I exude when I walk out of the hairdressers with perfectly smooth and shiny locks.

Either way, he makes me day. And if you ask me, that's the kind of love that Valentine's Day should be about. Because if you can only show your partner that you love them once a year, then you've got bigger things to worry about than forgetting to buy flowers and having to stop at the supermarket on your way home.