My phone flashes with a new push notification: social gatherings of more than six people to be banned by law in England from Monday. My stomach drops, I look to the left where my boyfriend sits on the sofa next to me, he’s seen it too.

We make the obligatory groans and voice our frustrations over the government’s flip-flopping advice and finger-pointing at the young people (who they encouraged to go and ‘eat out to help out’). There’s a mention of Christmas, the next few months and what we might have to miss out on. But a question hangs in the air: will we even make it that far? Can our relationship survive another lockdown?

I had been with my partner for a year before we moved in together in February, on Valentine’s Day – cute I know. It had been a truly amazing year, exceeding all the hopes I had for how a relationship could be.

“I’m scared my relationship won’t survive another lockdown”