Gillian McCallum, head matchmaker and CEO of top London dating agency Drawing Down the Moon, confirms the trend for romantic soul-searching over lockdown. She says her clients are often hectic, hard-working professionals who’ve suddenly been grounded by Covid-19; they look around their homes and realise the one thing lacking is a significant other. So far from interest dropping off, enquiries “are up 40 per cent year on year”.
McCallum believes there have been unexpected upsides to lockdown, as it has necessitated the revival of old-fashioned courtship: “Zoom dates have involved opera, ballet and virtual trips to Paris,” she says. And now the rules have relaxed, “distanced meet-ups in parks and for country walks are starting to happen.”
Even so, she admits those who’ve been “virtually dating” for a while have felt “celibacy fatigue creep in,” which has been exacerbated by seeing law-makers breaking the rules and getting off scot-free. “When you’ve spent two months really getting to know someone, without sex getting in the way, then what you want next is for sex to very definitely impede.” She points to the Netherlands, where the Dutch government has proposed you can select one person in a different house to have sex with, and stick with that choice. This gives former singles “an unparalleled opportunity to establish a deep connection,” says McCallum, and move forward with their relationship.
Please read the full article by Rowan Pelling: