CORONA BREAK-UPS? IT’S BROUGHT US CLOSER TOGETHER
CHINA’S divorce spike may be a warning to the rest of the locked-down world, but Oliver Callan is one of those lucky lovers whose relationship is benefiting.
The RTE star says he and his fiance are finding that quarantine is introducing them to the marriage “of old”.
The Callan’s Kicks presenter is refusing to even consider the glum forecasts that a second lockdown could hamper his autumnal wedding plans.
“I think it has really been better for us,” he says of his fiance, John Lannin.
“Suddenly we value our time more. We have watched less TV since the lockdown started so we wouldn’t get into the habit. And because we are both working at home we are eating together all the time.”
John even syncs his day to Oliver’s dawn starts ahead of the comedian’s presenting slot on RTE Radio One, while Ryan Tubridy is laid up with the virus. “I am getting up at 6am for the Tubridy show and John gets up then too — because it would just be odd if we got up at different times. Then I come home and we meet for lunch at midday and there is a lovely routine together. It’s like marriage that you would hear, of old, where couples did stuff together, as opposed to rushing around and saying ‘oh, we are all so busy and important’,” says Oliver.
He says the pandemic has been a way for people to consider their priorities in life. “A lockdown defines where people’s priorities are, so they figure out pretty quickly. If they are in a long-term relationship they are looking at each other and assessing it. If they just started going out then they are probably moving in together and I suppose that’s the best way to test anything out. So it has shunted things along, pared all the nonsense away and suddenly we are looking at what is important.”
On his October wedding plans, Oliver says: “I don’t know if it will be affected. We don’t want to go into the whole ‘oh will it happen, will it not?’ because we are just trying to get through ‘now’.
“We could be really lucky and we might actually get to have our wedding but it’s a new virus, so nobody knows.
“Those thoughts went through our head but then we thought, ‘we just have to get through the next few days’.”