Let’s say you’re in love and you’re sure that’s the real thing. To guarantee that you stay together forever you go to the nearest Brico, buy a padlock, write both your names on it, take your lover to the nearest bridge, lock your padlock somewhere and throw the key in the water.

Pont Les Arts, Paris

Romantic ? Bizarre ? Romantically bizarre ?

The legend has it that if you and your loved one attach a padlock to the railing of a bridge and then throw away the key into the river below, your love will last forever. Millions of couples have come for this reason, to lock in their love and throw away the key from Ponte Vecchio in Florence to Arno River. Or Pont Les Arts in Paris to Seine. Or, more bizarrely,  from the Namsan Tower in Seoul which happens to be 236.7 m, to the passerbys below.

Actually, the list is quite long and getting longer by the day. Whatever you think about the lovelocks, they became one of the most popular form of street art from South America to Asia. It’s very urban, very now.

Naturally it brought a new kind of entrepreneurs, the lovelock providers. You choose the type and color of the padlock, decide on your personalized message (could be anything from your names to marriage proposals) and it’s delivered to your address next day with the engraved message and all you need to do is to find a bridge or find a lover or ideally both.

What I want to know about is the morning after. Did Ali married Colin or is she with someone else now ?

It’s great to imagine that they are happily together after 30 years, but I’m not sure if it’s the norm. In our fast tracked consumer society does forever mean as long as convenient for both parties or until death do us apart ?

So if you ever throw the keys from a bridge with someone special can you please let me know what happened afterwards ?

Are you still together or did you have to buy more padlocks ? Please feel free to comment as much as you like, possibly with pictures of your own.