Leap Years

February is always the month of Valentine's day but it is sometimes the month of mild misogyny.

I am of course referring to the fact that a woman is 'allowed' to propose to her partner during a leap year. I'm not sure if it specifically has to be on February 29th or can be any date as long as it's one in a year that is divisible by 4. Either way, it's one of those quaint things, like St Swithin's day which people know about, some take seriously and others worry are damning of people's intelligence and principals.

I think it's silly. And slightly perpetuates the idea that women have to be given permission before making a powerful gesture of any sort.

Of course, when Friday comes about I will be getting down on both knees to propose my lover, just before scrubbing the floor and cooking dinner.

The question is: where is the best place to do such a contrived and awful thing?

Apparently the London Eye is the 2nd most popular place in THE WHOLE WORLD for proposals, after the Eiffel Tower. My boyfriend and I have been to both recently and there was not a whiff of a ring, so I can't say my experience backs up this data. I also think it would be terrifically corny to actually ask someone to marry you in either of those two places and in the case of the Eye, if you haven't hired out the entire capsule you will probably get 'no' as your answer. I would never accept a proposal that cost £15 and a minimum of 45 minutes of queing.

Ideally it should be somewhere where you can make a scene, whether offering, accepting or refusing. No one should be allowed to get away with it quietly (unless it's one of those rather unseemly shotgun marriages).

A park or something might be nice. Or a palace. With dinner. Something extravagant and/or extrordinarily expensive. Not Wormwood Scrubs. Or Wormholt Park. In fact, not anywhere that has 'worm' as part of its name. The only exception being if you first met there or some other such romantic nonsense.

If you are insisting on Shepherd's Bush though, I would suggest Eroma because you can do it at any time of day, and with a bagel if you haven't managed a ring yet.