Lockdown? What I miss most is a kiss and a cuddle
without realising how fragile life is and you don’t suffer the loss and grief of losing a child without knowing how fragile life can be no matter what age you are.”
It is 16 years since Gloria lost her beloved daughter, Blue Peter presenter Caron Keating, to breast cancer, aged just 41.
She went on to set up the Caron Keating Foundation, which gives grants to all types of cancer charities, and was appointed OBE by the Queen in 2017.
But it is Stephen, who has seen her through the ups and downs, who has kept her going.
The couple were married in Kent in 1998, a year after the death of Gloria’s ex-husband Don Keating, and have since been inseparable.
Gloria also acknowledges how both her and Stephen are “high risk” where the coronavirus is concerned, not only because of their age but because of their underlying health conditions.
In 2013, a blood test revealed that Gloria was pre-diabetic and doctors advised a strict diet.
“For the first week I was like a caged animal. I do understand why we have to be in lockdown but I have been used to life-long freedom.
“However this situation has forced me to be at home and I have slowed down. I don’t get up nearly as early and we lie in bed and watch the news, I potter about in the garden and then I think, ‘My goodness, it’s 3pm already’. The days are flying by.
“I got a tea house for my birthday once and we will have a cup of tea there in the afternoon. When my grandchildren were young, we had a treehouse built in the apple tree and so I’ll say to Stephen, ‘I’ll see you up there for a gin and tonic at 6pm!” You just kind of ring the changes.”
Gloria is about to return to our screens with BBC One consumer affairs series Rip-off Britain. Her years of experience make her perfect for the show and its spin-offs Rip-off Britain: Food; and Rip-off Britain: Holidays, as well as Food: Truth Or Scare?
In the new series of Rip-off Britain, she will be investigating coronavirus-related scams. She says: “It’s keeping me busy but, in the meantime, I really am very happy being in the garden and enjoying this weather. Along with the NHS, it really has been our saviour.”
● Rip Off Britain returns next month, followed by Food: Truth Or Scare?
FANCY a big smacker? I mean the kissing kind, of course. Or how about a massive hug?
If you’re isolating alone don’t you long for a peck on the cheek, or perhaps just a cuddle?
Be it from children, friends or anyone you’re fond of? Living on my own in lockdown, I know that hugging isn’t much to give up. Compared to what the selfless key workers on the frontline have had to give up it sounds so pathetic. But I am envious of large families locked down together who can embrace each other.
The British have never overdone the ‘mwah mwah!’ encounters. Not compared to the wonderful Italians and French who love a repeated kiss on the cheeks.
First time I was in Rome, aged 24, I mistook the “three Italian kisses” from a possible boyfriend for an attempted head butt. I elbowed him, which caused a small black eye and a major row in broken English.
Him: “Why you try to hit-a me?”
Me: “Mario, I was brought up in Birkenhead, we do things differently there.”
That relationship didn’t last as long as just one Cornetto but I always think of the trip with a mix of nostalgia, Elastoplast and embarrassment.
My armchair psychology has me wondering about the after-effects of not being embraced.will I get used to this lack of flesh on flesh? (I’m not talking about sex, a whole different subject!).will we become a MORE touchy-feely society or a LESS tactile population?
I’m now daydreaming about cuddling my adult children. Smelling their hair, wrapping my arms around them.yes, I constantly remind them I love them and it’s reciprocated in texts and calls – it’s just their arms around my expanding waistline that I’m missing most! When lockdown finishes I’m sure we’ll still be wary of our own personal space but I hope we will go back to enjoying bear hugs in the pub! I hope my son and daughters won’t mind me grabbing hold of them to the point of embarrassment. Never mind saying “I love you,” it’s, “Give us a hug” that I’m really want!
● Kate is a keynote speaker at the virtual One Voice Conference, May 9, the UK’S only voiceover and voice actor conference