Sometimes, on Valentine's Day, stuff just blows up. Suddenly the notion of dropping love bombs begins to feel more like you should be cowering in an air-raid shelter ... and you need help. We have a collection of foolproof events, suitable for those who are suddenly doing the face palm, right up to those who have marked on a calendar the anniversary of their first phone call. Romance is the thing this time around, even for those who think Valentine's Day is a ginned-up bit of nonsense. Even those folks will be in the mood for love after hitting some of these events.

We would issue the On The Town guarantee, but we recognize that l'amour is so fickle and capricious that such things are never foolproof. We will instead say that, before you start rolling your eyes and cringing at notions of dark rooms and fondue, know that there are any number of ways to inspire bonding. You can laugh together, for example. And the value of leaning close so that you can hear each other at a rock 'n' roll show is always good for those chance bits of contact that make a couple, or a couple of aspirational singles, smile.