Suzanne Harrington: Funnily, lockdown love (with daily walks) knows no bounds

"Puke all you like, but when there is nothing to do except side-by-side Zoom yoga in the sitting room, followed by watching yet more football while eating yesterday's leftovers,  that's how you find out if you want to be with someone or not."

Wrapped up in each other's lives: The confinement of lockdown is the perfect way to get to know one another.

We have done pandemic Paddy's Day, pandemic Easter, pandemic Halloween, pandemic Christmas, pandemic new year, and now we're doing pandemic Valentine's Day. Conveniently, for Valentine's, all you need is love. This Valentine's, my love and I will be sitting on the sofa in elasticated lounge wear, with lockdown hair, watching the football, the same as we have been since the day we met. Because we met in lockdown.

So, there have been no weekends in Paris or Barcelona, no romantic escapes to the countryside, no gigs, no dancing, no theatre. No dinners out, no lazy brunches. (I'm aware this is starting to sound like the theme tune to Only Fools and Horses.) We had one weird trip to the cinema, when it briefly opened, except they hadn't put the heating on, so it was like watching a film in a frozen field with popcorn, as jittery ushers hovered in hazmat suits. Bit of a buzz kill, to be honest. Nor have we met each other's families, because of airports and tiers and travel restrictions, and blah, blah, blah.

No, what we have done is walk for miles in empty landscapes, squelching through mud, wrapped up against rain and wind. 

We've jumped in a freezing sea together, and drunk a million outdoor coffees. 

We've walked past all the closed venues and talked about which bands we'll see, which exhibitions, which plays. We've introduced our elderly dogs, who ignored each other. 

We've done more walking. And more. And even more.

Turns out that living a Little House On The Prairie lifestyle — except with wifi, obviously — is a really good way of getting to know someone. And by getting to know someone, I mean finding out far more quickly if they are a donkey than you would if your time together was diluted and distracted by the usual dating stuff and by the company of other humans. When you are in solitary confinement together, in your trackies and wonky hair, there's nowhere to hide.

So, while not wishing to make anyone sick on their shoes, turns out there is no love like lockdown love. Puke all you like, but when there is nothing to do except side-by-side Zoom yoga in the sitting room, followed by watching yet more football in the same sitting room while eating yesterday's leftovers,  that's how you find out if you want to be with someone or not. When a highlight of the evening is cracking open a packet of digestives, as you catch up on a lifetime's music by sharing YouTube links, that's how you find out. When going out for a drink means walking to the kitchen to put the kettle on, that's how you find out.

When you do all this with someone over and over, in your tiny, shut-down world in the dead of winter, and keep wanting to do it, without once thinking an even slightly murderous thought, that's love. You can keep your red roses, your chocolates and champagne, your his'n'hers spa days, your over-priced 'romantic' menus: All you need is love. And a negative Covid-19 test. Happy Valentine's, lovers.