The Tribune

ONE lady almost killed her boyfriend, another man just seems constantly unlucky in planning romantic nights.

They were just two of the people who shared their tales of Valentine’s woe in the KISS FM ‘kiss and make up’ competition, hoping to win a prize which will make amends for everything that had gone wrong on the annual day of love.

Now Vanessa Sawyer and Bruno Barr can enjoy a treat with their respective partners as winners of a luxurious experience at the One&Only Ocean Club, which includes being picked up by limousine, a sensual couple’s massage and a dinner at the superb Dune restaurant.

They were the two winners of the competition which invited listeners to submit their Valentine’s mess-ups and were announced yesterday on the Radio House stations.

Vanessa Sawyer thought she had the perfect night planned for William Clarke as it was their first Valentine’s Day after dating for four months. They had discovered that neither had been given gifts or ever been treated specially in the past. She determined to treat her man.

She planned his favourite seafood dinner with candles followed by a bubble bath in the jacuzzi at a townhouse in eastern New Providence she had rented for the occasion. During the day, she went to season the fish and set up the romantic evening while he was at work and thinking they had dinner plans at a restaurant.

“He was supposed to pick me up from home but I told him would be getting ready by my aunt out east (he never met my aunt before, therefore he didn’t know where she lived),” she wrote. “So I gave him directions where to come. When he arrived, I opened the door in a lacey red lingerie, his mouth dropped to the floor.

“I had the room dimly lit with the table set up with his sesame-crusted Grouper with butter and ginger sauce, steamed veggies, tossed salad and fresh baked dinner rolls and a bottle of Pierre Marcel chilling in an ice bucket. With rose petals all over the floor leading to the jacuzzi tub.”

After dinner, they went to the jacuzzi. “We got in the tub and suddenly he started to cough and when I looked at him his lip was swollen. Then his right eye started to swell. Then he said he was having problems swallowing. I rushed him to the hospital. He was rushed straight through to A&E. They said he was having an allergic reaction to something. They asked what he had eaten and they initially thought it was the fish but ... we found out it was the sesame seeds, which is very rare form of an allergy.” He spent two days in A&E.

“Wow, I almost killed my boyfriend on Valentine’s Day. I felt so bad. But how was I to know that he was allergic to sesame seeds when he never knew.”

Bruno Barr said his wife of ten years, Lerdon, called him immediately she heard about the KISS FM competition as he seems to have the worst luck whenever he tries to treat her or take her out. Life and two children get in the way of spending quality time with each other so it takes a lot of planning just for a night out.

He planned a surprise couple’s massage at a spa at Sandyport, booked in advance, paid the deposit and even made special requests. Two days before the date, he received a confirmation call.

“We got there at the appointed time but the place was locked and no one was there,” he wrote. “This time, my wife is looking at me like … ooooooooooookay.”

When Mr Barr called the proprietor, she apologised but the spa was not operating because of a fire in the air conditioning unit the previous day. “All I could do was treat her to the ‘Bamboo Shack Lover’s Special’ that they had going on,” he wrote.

On another occasion, one of their friends was hosting a paid Junkanoo event with dinner and dancing. However, when they arrived, there was only one other car in the parking lot so they decided to leave, catch a movie and come back later. But there was nothing of interest at the cinema. “We left to dine at a restaurant out Cable Beach. However, they did not have the meal that my wife was interested in. We ended up going to Wendy’s (Cable Beach) to sit and eat.”

They drove back to the Junkanoo event to find two cars in the car park, realised the night was a “dud” and went home.

Among the other entries, two stood out.

Clarice Campbell planned a luxurious evening with lobster and champagne dinner by a hired chef and an expensive watch from John Bull as a surprise gift for her date. The chef was booked and the gift bought and specially wrapped.

“We began the evening with the bottle of Moët and light conversation,” she wrote as they anticipated the feast to come. “A half an hour past the delivery time for the meal and I started to get nervous; an hour went by - no food. So I decided to call the number that I had used to make the arrangement and heard nothing.”

There was no food in the fridge to fix quickly. “My Valentine night was screwed. So I thought to sip on the rest of the wine and let him open the gift. Excited to see the look on his face, I handed him the bag ... he opened it to find a ladies watch. Oh my goodness, the sales clerk or gift wrapper made a huge mistake.”

Ebbie Jackson and her husband are runners so go to bed early as they get up early to train. For Valentine’s Day, they had decided to go out for a rare meal.

But after work, both were too tired and fell asleep. When she finally awoke “I found him sleeping on the couch knock right out”.

“We are such older, tired folks that we don’t get to go out and enjoy each other over a meal so this give away would be a surprise to him and a treat to both of us because we seldom get to spend time out during evenings.”