How we met: ‘We got chatting in an online word game – and fell in love’

Sarah, 59, and Martin, 56, met playing Words with Friends in 2019. They live at opposite ends of the world, but can't wait to be together

Sarah never imagined that her online word-game addiction would become more than a hobby. But at the end of 2019 it led to an unexpected, long-distance love story. I was living in Germany but spending a lot of time with my daughter in Switzerland," says Sarah, who left the UK with her husband when she was 20. She had had a third baby and needed some extra help. I'd also been widowed in 2018 and was still feeling a bit disoriented."

The Scrabble-style game Words with Friends soon became a nice distraction. You can play with anyone in the world," she says. I would often be sitting in my grandchildren's rooms waiting for them to sleep while I played."