There’s a rosy glow around Nature Network today. It’s our first birthday, and it’s Valentine’s Day. Chocolate is very much on the agenda.
Around town, Eros is wearing his lab coat, as several venues put on themed events.
If you can get over to the Natural History Museum for 12.30, there’s a talk about Love in the natural world. And by ‘love’, they mean ‘nasty, dangerous and sometimes lethal’:
You can lose your head, literally get stuck with a mate for life or end up as your lover’s lunch. From desperate dances to complex chemicals, join us as we take a closer look at the wild side of Valentine’s Day.
The ever-inventive Grant Museum take a similar tact with an evening devoted to ‘animal magnetism’:
Discover how seduction is done in the animal world. Come and find just how big a heart can get, which romantic human superstitions are animal-related, and see how far creatures will go to get the girl…
A free glass of wine is on offer to get you in the mood.
It’s no surprise to see that the Dana Centre is in on the amorous theme. The adults-only venue offers close encounters of the olfactory kind:
We each have smells we find attractive and others we don’t. Is it possible to sniff out your ideal partner? Perfumer and aroma scientist George Dodd will lead you through this sniff-dating event.
As for me, I’ll be taking the wife on a ‘2 mile anti-seasonal trek across London from Bleeding Heart Yard to Crossbones Graveyard, via ghosts, monsters, folklore and other strange tales’. I can be so romantic when I put my mind to it.
Happy Valentine’s Day, Matt!
p.s. What color is Eros’s lab coat?
Vomit coloured, if it’s been in Piccadilly Circus too long.
Oh, and thanks Jenny – and to you!