Love padlocks - or cadenas d'amour as they are known in French - are a rapidly growing Valentine's Day phenomenon. The idea is that couples in love take a padlock then scratch or scrawl their initials or names, or a message (a very short one, or written so small you can barely read it), on to the surface. The lovers then attach it to some railings (they're not fussy, but it's more often than not on a bridge), then throw away the key. This act of vandalism is said to symbolise their love for each other. How nauseating. (However, it does also act as a touching reminder when the relationship comes to an abrupt, unpleasant end: you feel sad, empty and alone every time you walk to work over that 'special' bridge and see your 'love-lock'. A great start to the day. Every day. Bet you wish you hadn't thrown away the key now, eh?)
Apparently the origins of this lovey-dovey mischief are fairly unknown, possibly originating from China, possibly from Hungary, possibly from Rome (where young men leaving to do military service attached padlocks to bridges as a promise that they would return), possibly from the Italian novel I want you, by Frederico Moccia, or possibly from one annoying person who happened to have a padlock in their pocket and thought it might be amusing to attach it to some historical tourist attraction which would be an eyesore and a pain in the arse to remove. Beats graffiti for ease of removal, particularly when there are thousands of them.
It's hard for councils to remove these love-locks, and not just because of the work involved: they are attached by lovers, often in romantic European city-break type towns - Paris, Rome, Florence, Brussels, Seville. If they hack off and bin these ugly bits of metal, councils may come across as being killjoys and the towns may lose their 'romantic' status.
The number of padlocks gracing railings has become so ridiculous that some towns are fighting back - in Florence there is a €50 fine if you're the unlucky one caught in the act. That's your romantic dinner con il vino down the drain. In Paris last year, 2000 scratched, felt-tip penned and tip-exed love-locks disappeared in the dead of night (although the city council denied any involvement...yeah, right).
Lets face it, padlocks really aren't that pretty. Anyone caught attaching a padlock to a railing on a bridge or fence should be, as in Italy, fined. This is no different from any other kind of vandalism - the excuse of 'love' seems to me to be a poor one (but fairly effective apparently).
It would be nice, if next time in Paris, I could take a photo of the Pont de Arts with the picturesque Ile de la Cité in the background without, what looks in the photo, like a lot of litter stuck in between the railings.
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