La perfection est atteinte non quand il ne reste rien à ajouter...

[ewx]

...mais quand il ne reste rien à enlev.

People who want nothing to with Valentine's day look away now.

Now that they're gone, I'm sure there are even fewer non-crap cards this time round than usual. (Not that it's ever been exactly easy to sift the gems out of the slushy and crass.) Last year I had relatively little difficulty finding the right number of cards; had a choice, even. This year... actually, many more cards would be fine if they didn't have writing on. A card should be a substrate for whatever message I want to send, not come with someone else's message already there!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I went and bought the same card I bought last year, by mistake. It was one of three that seemed acceptable - out of a rack of hundreds. Got home and looked at last year's (which just happens to be still accessible) and realised they were identical.

Luckily WHSmith's exchange policy is quite reasonable, and the new one is not too similar (although clearly from the same range). If they don't change the designs next year there will be only one acceptable choice left, and in 2006 I'll have to make one.

From this you may deduce that I am with a permanent partner, who is likely to read this (hence the anonymity). :-)

[mtbc100.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, some of the writing is awful, and is often inappropriate. I do sometimes buy blank cards for this reason, and Dawn has also been happy to receive not-quite-Valentine's cards that I thought were more appropriate. (For instance, my first fallback is to the general "love and best wishes" section.) Although, this year I had a surprisingly easy time from a small selection in a supermarket!

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

many more cards would be fine if they didn't have writing on

Too right. I tend to buy blank cards for most things, for exactly that reason. Favourite places being Cambridge Contemporary Arts (Trinity St), Arcadia (Bene't St), and Primavera (King's Parade). And occasionally Pachamama (Green St).

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Aha! Another lunchtime shopping expedition for me, then.

[lnr]

I found the opposite. Last year I visited several shops before I could find anything I liked enough to buy, and even then it was a compromise. This year I found something perfect the first one I went in.

Re:

[mobbsy.livejournal.com]

I must remember to look in those shops next time I need a card. I usually use Paperchase who have often have blank cards, and certainly are a cut above Clinton tat.

Re:

[lnr]

Oddly enough Clinton was where I found some nice ones this year. Of course it requires the ability to walk past all the worst of the tat.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Mass-produced commercial cards in "being crap" shocker. So make your own! :-) Heffers Art Shop even put all the Valentine-ish (red, heart-shaped, rose-shaped, etc.) craft-stuff in one big display in the shop so you can find it all easily. Mind you it generally takes me as long to wander round the shops looking for something half-decent as it would take to make something personalised, because I am Indecisive Shopper From Hell.