6 p.m.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/05/2020 (1598 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg singles know dating can be a minefield at the best of times.

Engaging in the perilous mating ritual during a pandemic in which public-health officials constantly remind strangers to stay at least two metres apart, would seem almost impossible.

But for 29-year-old Leah Borchert, it’s preferable.

“I don’t like being touched until I know someone well,” she says. “So this is ideal.”

Borchert has been single for the past year after leaving a long-term relationship. Since then, she has been casually dating.

Since social distancing has become the new normal, she’s gone on an appropriately separated walking date, but not much else. Tonight, she is going on a digital date via Zoom… and both she and her date have invited a reporter and a photographer to watch.

“His name is Eddie and he’s 32,” she shares. “He’s kind of cute. He loves the movie Jurassic Park.”

“We haven’t had a big conversation,” Borchert says. “He asked what kind of music I listened to and I said, ‘mostly acoustic’ and then I asked him to do this (Zoom) and he said OK.”

So, Zooming ahead…

They talk about their careers; Borchert is a drama therapist and Eddie is a flight specialist, which is “kind of like air-traffic control.” They talk about the games they’ve been playing, including Dungeons and Dragons.

“This is my first video date,” Eddie confides. “I’m not usually a relationship person. This wasn’t something I was going to divulge yet, but my longest relationship was, like, a month-and-a-half almost three years ago.”

That being the case, why risk it in front of a captive, documenting audience?

“I didn’t think about it much at the start,” he says. “I just thought it could be fun and Leah seemed nice.”

It’s about 45 minutes later when Borchert says she has to sign off to sign in to her weekly Dungeons and Dragons game.

“I like to think it would have been less awkward without (the Free Press) here,” Eddie says, “but I’m honestly not sure if it would have been or not.”

That’s something they have in common.

“It was a little awkward,” says Borchert. “It’s hard to feel enthusiastic about someone after one date. But how do you know who you want to get to know more?”

Will she go on another digital date with him?

“If he asks,” Borchert says, smiling.

— Frances Koncan