Lockdown love stories

By Delilah Kealy-Roberts

Over the past 12 months (yes, it really has been that long), the string of lockdowns and other restrictions have impacted people in various, cataclysmic ways. Families have spent an unprecedented time in each other’s company, the casual house-mate relationship has intensified, and, against all the odds, people have still been looking for love. On Valentine’s Day 2021, the couples who have come through the lockdowns stronger than ever deserve one hell of a celebration. Surprisingly, there are a lot of them out there. 

Despite the doom and gloom of life in lockdown, there have been countless romantic success stories over the past year. According to Relate, a leading relationships charity, the last year has been a ‘make or break time for couples’. While many partnerships crumbled under the pressure, others intensified and left people feeling more connected to their partners than ever before. 

Turbo Relationships

The phrase ‘turbo relationship’ has been coined to describe any couple who have taken big steps during lockdown. Mainly, we’re talking about the flurry of new couples that have decided to take the plunge and move in together. Olivia, 25, first met her partner on New Year’s Day 2020 – back when we all felt a little more optimistic. After chatting in a bar in Newcastle, the pair began dating. However, at the time, Olivia lived and worked in London so they couldn’t see each other often.

‘I really liked him,’ she explains, ‘but it felt like it couldn’t and wouldn’t last that long and would have to fizzle out quickly because we weren’t in the same city very often.’

But everything changed on the 23rd of March, 2020: ‘The beginning of lockdown was good because it was like the real world was on pause and we got our chance to see if it would really work,’ said Olivia. For her and her partner, things felt right. So instead of remaining in London over lockdown or staying with her parents, she ended up moving in with him – turbo-charging a relationship which has continued to go from strength to strength since ever since.

‘We’d most likely never be here without lockdown,’ Olivia says. ‘It does feel like we’ve been together for much longer than we have. We now live together with a dog and we’ve got a van that we bought together to do up. I never would have thought all that could happen in a year!’

Navigating New Relationships 

Those who began their relationship before lockdown had very different ideas about what the next few months would hold. Ready to embark on the classic ‘honeymoon period’ and enjoy learning about one another over meals out and introductions to friends at the pub, their new relationship was suddenly locked down and isolated.

Daisy, 25, explains how she and her partner navigated this stage of their relationship during tight restrictions and periods when they couldn’t see each other at all. ‘We met around Christmas last year,’ she says, ‘but were dating quite casually and I had plans to go travelling. Then lockdown happened and all my travel plans went out the window!’

After her plans fell through, there seemed to be more potential for their budding relationship – but they still had the problem of living apart during a national lockdown. Despite the difficulties, the pair made the best of a strange situation: ‘It was almost fun at first… like a novelty. We chatted a lot, which was really nice, and we did a lot of Zoom dates. Especially at the start, we both put in a lot of effort and even got dressed up.’

When asked about the impact this strange year has had on them, Daisy said: ‘Lockdown has definitely impacted our relationship a lot and it is, in a way, the reason that we’re still together, which seems ridiculous!’ She went on to add: ‘Also, I think there’s something to be said about not being able to kiss or touch at all. It made me feel, at times, like a teenager again – a lot of butterflies!’