Six months before the pandemic, Clare went on a holistic retreat to Spain. On her way home, she spotted someone she recognised on the flight. “I used to work in the construction industry and I’d seen him at work events,” she says. Although she didn’t speak to him, the man he was with caught her eye. “I told my friend he was fit, then forgot all about it.”
When lockdown hit in March 2020, she realised that she and the “fit man” were connected through the networking service LinkedIn. “We’d never met, but had similar work circles. He sent me a message to say happy birthday just as the UK was about to shut down. I wrote back and we chatted briefly,” she says. “We both said it was a bad time to be single, but, to be honest, my love life had been in lockdown for years. I’d given up looking.” With a marketing agency to manage and two children to care for, romance was the last thing on her mind. “I was trying to home school and save my business. I started getting up at 5.30am so I could take a long walk and clear my head,” she says.
At the same time, Leon was furloughed from the civil engineering firm where he worked. In early May, Clare wrote to him again on LinkedIn, to ask if he had met his lockdown wife. “We joked about being single and then started talking about fitness routines. I was going for runs, doing Hiit training and taking bike rides to keep myself busy while I wasn’t working,” says Leon. “Clare told me she’d also been doing a lot of fitness and using a smartwatch to track her progress.” They suggested having “workout competitions” to spice up their exercise routines. “I was always winning,” laughs Clare. “I would hit 600 points on the watch before he even got out of bed. I’m really competitive.”
When restrictions eased later that month, they went for a walk in Ipswich, where they lived. “We’d been having such great conversations, so I was really excited to see what it was like in person. Luckily, it was exactly the same,” says Leon. Clare was also smitten straight away. “It was like being with my best friend. I didn’t have to hide any parts of me,” she says.
In June 2020, they met at Felixstowe beach for a day trip. “I felt so bad for Leon, because my parents showed up. I had warned him that my mum swims there every day. She thought his name was Fernando for some reason, but he took it all in his stride.” Leon loved the day out. “Clare’s parents are mad as a box of frogs, but it was nice to meet them in a natural way,” he says.
By the time Leon turned 40 in July, the couple had made their relationship official. “It was the first weekend we were allowed out and I met his friends. I bought him a new smartwatch, too; it seemed significant,” she says. Leon began to stay at Clare’s home regularly and was introduced to her children, who were 12 and 18 at the time. “For me, to let him into our lives was a big deal.”
They managed a holiday to Turkey in August, before the autumn restrictions were introduced. “With the winter lockdown coming, we had to decide whether to live together permanently,” says Leon. “I moved in at the end of October.” Although they couldn’t go out, Clare says they have “had a laugh” doing everything together and he helped her with home renovations. In February, they decided to buy a place in Ipswich; they moved to their new home in June this year.
Leon says his partner is a great person and an excellent mum. “She’ll do anything for anyone,” he says. “She joins in with all my friends and I’m the same with her family and friends.” Clare says they share the same values. “We’re very similar people and I trust him with anything. In the whole time we’ve been together, we haven’t even had an argument.”
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