SO, it's Valentine's Day. The most romantic day of the year. Fact.

A day when florists double their prices and restaurateurs rub their hands together in greedy glee.

A day when greetings card shops fleece the public and when men across the country get in trouble for not being more romantic.

If you've not already guessed, I'm not head-over-heels in love with February 14.

The reason being that, to me, it all just feels kind of forced.

It's the same as ten-pin bowling and New Year's Eve. Compulsory fun . . . well, it's never much fun is it?

Valentine's Day is mandatory romance and it just doesn't do it for me, I'm afraid.

The prospect of sitting in a restaurant alongside 30 other couples lined-up in rows of tables-for-two, separated by inches, isn't my idea of a good night out.

It's not that I'm unromantic.

I love being bought flowers or, better still, being surprised by a romantic gesture personal to me. But if you want to buy me roses or give me a card, I'd rather you do it when you feel like it, not because the calendar tells you to.

Of course, lots of couples love Valentine's Day, and I'm not knocking them for it.

Good on them, because in these time-poor days it's all to easy to take your loved ones for granted and forget to tell them how much you care.

But when it comes to Valentine's Day I'm one of those cynics who just thinks it's one big rip-off. The worst offenders are the card shops.

Last year I saw an elderly man taking a card to the till and buckling in shock when the cashier asked him for £7.

Too embarrassed to put it back, he paid and shuffled off.

Surely romance doesn't have to equate to daylight robbery?

It's not just a coincidence that they don't display the prices of greetings cards properly, you know.

Maybe I'm just bitter because I've never really had a good Valentine's Day (get out your violins).

For the last three years, either me or my boyfriend were ill on Valentine's Day.

And the worst in history was the one when I was 17 and accidentally took two sleeping pills instead of aspirin for a headache and spend the whole day asleep in the nurse's room at college!

Still, maybe this year I'll change my mind and see the light.

I'm not holding my breath though.