Aisha & Sultan We wed after four months to beat a second lockdown

Aisha Roslaie and Sultan Akhtar had just one date before they were separated by the first lockdown last March.

But after a whirlwind virtual romance they got married in July, so they have been able to spend the pandemic together.

Aisha, 24, who has her own Youtube channel, says: “Things definitely happened more quickly because of lockdown.

“It’s in our religion to be as wholesome as possible and we knew there was going to be another lockdown coming and we didn’t want to be apart again.”

The couple met on Muslim dating app Muzmatch, almost a year ago, and there was an instant spark.

Aisha explains: “For our first date, Sultan drove to see me in London from his home in

Dewsbury – about four hours away.

“We went to a restaurant and then the next day we had breakfast and went to a farm. I really liked him but after he left, things really changed because of the pandemic. We videocalled pretty much every day and sometimes I’d even leave the phone on at night time and wake up and he’d still be there. We just couldn’t be together because we lived so far away and were scared of the lockdown rules.”

Eventually as the rules eased, Aisha

and Sultan, 26, found a way to meet half way and see each other.

Aisha says: “No restaurants or cafes were open, so we would meet at a service station pretty much every single day.

“We always had the intention to marry – as Muslims, we don’t really date.

“But the moment we knew we were going to go for it, was when Sultan drove to London one night to surprise me, in June.

“We sat by the Thames and ate some food and that’s when he proposed.”

The couple got married in a simple and small ceremony in July. Aisha says: “We wanted it to just be between me and him and God. We didn’t want lots of people, so we did it really minimal.”

And Aisha and her new husband have no regrets.

She says: “Marriage has changed the whole lockdown for us. Before, I used to be in my house wondering when I could get out. But after we got married it’s as though it just stopped existing. We’re together and that’s all that matters.”

I have a small collection of the Valentine’s cards I received in 1985 – they were mostly padded and all of them anonymous. One even said, “Top of the morning to you, Siobhan” so I can only imagine it came from a leprechaun.

This is the most number of cards I have ever received at one time, and therefore I can only assume this must have been the year I peaked.

It’s been downhill all the way since then.

I always think Saint Valentine must have had excellent PR to turn what was, after all, a fairly gruesome ending, into a day that we celebrate love.

Legend tells us that a priest called Valentine was beheaded by the Romans on February 14 in 278 AD for performing illegal secret marriages when the men were supposed to be going off to war instead.

Then I think the card companies got together and made up the fact that Valentine signed a farewell note before he died saying “From your sexy Valentine” and a billion-pound industry was spawned.

But sending an anonymous card to the object of your affection is not the only Valentine’s tradition around the world, according to education resources experts Planbee. In Wales, it’s traditional to give your loved one a hand-carved wooden love spoon. Not to be confused with a wooden cooking spoon, which you should not send if you ever expect to have sex again.

In Japan, women give gifts to men on

Valentine’s Day, while Italians and Brazilians celebrate it in the only way they know how – by having carnivals and street parties.

In Finland and Estonia, Valentine’s is better known as the Day of Friends. Or as it’s also known here, Galentine’s – a day when friends show their affection by exchanging gifts or meeting up.

Then there are the Slovenians who just can’t get enough of the slushy stuff and celebrate it twice, once for Valentine’s and then on March 12 for St Gregory’s Day.

Probably so Slovenian husbands can take that scratchy red underwear back to the shop after February 14 and exchange it for something nice and comfy for their national lover’s day.

Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.

Yours, Siobhan