Lockdown singletons forgotten by society

THANKS to a friend I first met back in my Welholme Galleries days, one of the few positives to emerge over the past year has been an introduction to the music of Mick Blake. He’s an Irish singer\songwriter, who I can certainly recommend to those of a similar political persuasion to myself.

One of Mick’s most recent songs is called Lockdown With You, from which it doesn’t take much of a step to realise what the track is all about. For lockdown has become a fact of life these past 12 months, as both politicians and medical experts have struggled to know what to do in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mick’s message is a simple one, namely that as long as he is with the person he loves, then he can cope with whatever life throws at him, including lockdown.

Which is fine. But what about the millions of people up and down the country who live on our own? I sometimes think we’ve become the forgotten people of society, dominated by those in coupledom who no longer understand what it’s like for singletons.

You see we’ve traditionally relied on being able to go out and meet people, whether in pubs, clubs, community centres or village halls. Sometimes we might be lucky and form a romantic attachment as a result, but even if we don’t there’s always the hope of the next time. What’s more the friendships we make can mean more to us than anything.

Yet with our outlets of pleasure forcibly closed and meeting indoors limited to bubbles, for which I for one am extremely grateful for, life with Covid has certainly not been made any easier.