COUPLES TORN APART BY VIRUS
SINCE Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a UK lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic, many people’s lives have been turned upside down.
The uncertainty of the situation means many people don’t know when they will next get to see family and friends.
Lots of couples around the country have experienced lockdown together, both working at home and seeing each other more than ever.
However, there are others who have been forced apart and have no idea when they might next see each other.
Here are the stories of some couples in exactly that situation and how they plan to get through it.
Meg and her fiance Tom are currently living separately at their parents’ houses while they save up for their wedding.
The pair, both 28, are only 20 minutes apart, but are not sure when they will be reunited.
“We got engaged in August 2019 and are due to get married in October 2020,” Meg said.
“After four years of living together in London we decided to move back to Wales and are currently living separately with our parents while we save for the wedding and a house.
“It’s been really hard trying to organise two huge life events while we’re not under the same roof anyway, but now we’re not able to see each other under completely different circumstances, neither of those things seem that important right now.”
Meg explained the most important thing right now is that they and their loved ones remain safe.
She said: “Much like the rest of the nation I feel anxious and stressed and I know Tom does too. Not being able to hang out together or have a reassuring cuddle is a bit miserable, but if being apart keeps us and others safe then so be it.
“We really miss one another but ultimately all we want is for our loved ones to come out the other side healthy and happy and hopefully, at some point down the line, we’ll all have a wedding to celebrate together.
“In the meantime FaceTime is keeping us going, I find myself video calling him when I’m walking the dog or on a lunch break, while he finds a reason to do the same in the middle of a workout or while eating dinner with nothing to say.
“We’ve also ramped up the texting, which feels really old school and are taking the time to focus on ourselves with exercise and healthy eating.”
Ashleigh John, 23, and her boyfriend of two years, Marcel Kozaczyk, 24, were in different cities when the new measures to deal with coronavirus were announced, and don’t know when they’ll next see each other.
Ashleigh is currently staying with her grandad in Caerphilly, while Marcel is living with his family in Plymouth.
The couple are used to distance and try to see each other most weekends.
“We were together just before we went into lockdown and then Marcel drove home back to Plymouth,” Ashleigh said.
“The following day, Boris announced his lockdown and I immediately FaceTimed Marcel wondering what we would do now because we were supposed to go and see each other the following weekend.
“But we could be carrying it and not have any symptoms, so we had to stay separate.”
The couple said they usually stay connected a lot when they’re apart, through messaging apps and the odd phone call, but said now keeping in touch will be more important than ever.
“We are long distance anyway, we sometimes FaceTime and have phone call catchups every now and then,” Ashleigh said.
“But knowing we can’t see each other is what’s hard.
“Day-to-day we try not to talk about what’s going on too much and try to keep it lighthearted – we often send each other funny TikTok videos.
“Everyone’s got their own approach to deal with it and ours is trying to laugh.
“If we don’t make the best of a bad situation, what else is there to do?”
Zoe, 44, and husband Dan, 39, live in Llanelli and have been married for the past nine years.
Zoe will be staying in their family home with her daughter Jasmin, who has chronic illnesses including asthma, while Dan lives in their caravan in the garden.
“My husband works in a business that can’t shut down because of the pandemic,” said Zoe.
“Because he has to go to work, he won’t be staying in the house, instead he will be living in our caravan in our garden. We usually keep it in storage, but we are lucky to have a garden to keep it in.”
Until now, Dan had been social distancing as much as possible at home.
Zoe described how he goes to work early and finishes fairly late so it hasn’t been too difficult, but they want to keep their family as safe as possible and thought this would be the best way of doing so.
Zoe said: “As serious as this is we are trying to see the funny side of it, we’re going to be laughing at each other through the window, we’ll still be able to communicate.
“We are doing our part to keep us and our family safe, but we’ve also got to live through it, so laughing is important.
“We go away in the caravan most weekends and always laugh about how I like hotels and he likes camping, and that our caravan is a compromise.”
Another couple facing extraordinary circumstances is Kira Trott, 22, and James Best, 28, who have been together for three years.
At present, Kira is a final-year student nurse in Bristol, while James is at home in Ystradgynlais.
The couple have not seen each other since before the lockdown because Kira, who would be working at a hospital right now, has had to self-isolate.
“I went into self-isolation last week because one of my housemates was showing signs of symptoms, so we haven’t seen each other for a while,” she said.
“We didn’t think we would be able to see each other for a while now, especially because I’m in the hospital working a lot.
“But we are coping quite fine at the moment and we are positive.”
Though Kira and James are used to staying in touch while apart, they have planned some more creative ways to communicate since they don’t know when they will next see each other in person.
“We are doing Skype dates and starting to write each other letters,” said Kira.
“We talk every day anyway, it’s normal for us because we live far away – sometimes with my shifts we go three weeks without seeing each other.
“I think we are not feeling it at the moment because we are used to spending time apart, but the next weeks might be more difficult.”
HOPES AND FEARS OF MUMS-TO-BE – PAGES 10&11