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How we met: ‘He asked if I’d ever been breastfed wine by a man’

When Jim Moston decided to volunteer as a litter picker at Glastonbury in 2016, he wasn’t expecting more than a fun weekend. “You get free food and showers and it’s a great way to see the festival,” he says. On Sunday afternoon, he and some friends let off steam with a drinking session. “We’d bought a box of wine and found an old backpack, so we strapped it to my friend’s front like a pair of udders,” he says, laughing.

It wasn’t long before they bumped into Evie. “They asked if I’d ever been breastfed wine by a man and whether I’d like to be,” says Evie. “It was one of those silly things that only happens at Glastonbury.” Jim took photographs while Evie posed with his friend. “It seemed like it would be a funny story,” she says.

The next day she got chatting to Jim and his friends again. “I definitely singled Jim out and thought he was nice. But I was about to move to Exeter to start my career as a doctor. He lived in Leamington Spa, so I didn’t think I would see him again.” He was reluctant to part ways. “It had been an emotional weekend, with the Brexit result, and I don’t think any of us wanted to leave,” says Jim.

They became Facebook friends and a week later she sent him a message. “It sparked the conversation and it all felt so easy,” says Jim. “We had so much in common. She even loves baking lemon drizzle cake, which is my favourite.”

Evie was staying at her family home in Yorkshire when she was asked to attend a medical conference in Oxford a few weeks later. Jim suggested she stop in Leamington Spa on the way. “We went to a food festival and just clicked,” he says. By the end of the date, they both knew they had found the right person. “I always thought you could never tell from a first date, but I realised I’d been dating the wrong people,” says Evie. “I deleted Tinder that night.”

She moved to Exeter shortly after their day out and the pair began a long-distance relationship. “It was hard, but it just goes to show that it doesn’t matter if you’re with the right person,” says Jim.

Evie finished her foundation training and moved to Leamington Spa in August 2018. A few months later, the pair made plans to travel the world. “I’d been in education my whole life and it was something I wanted to do,” Evie says. They toured Vietnam by motorbike for three months, before exploring the rest of south-east Asia by bus and train. “We’d end up in remote villages where tourists had never been before,” she says. “It was an incredible experience.” When they returned to the UK, they moved in with Evie’s parents. “I was worried at first, but I think I get on with them better than you now,” jokes Jim.

Jim searched for jobs while Evie worked in a hospital. He found a role as a motorcycle designer in Salzburg, Austria, in September. Evie moved there to be with him two months before lockdown began. “I’ll come back to the UK to start my training as a GP in August,” she says. “I thought it would be a great experience to go to Austria with Jim first, although we did not know the pandemic would happen.” The couple are spending a lot of time cooking and doing Zoom workouts.

Evie says Jim’s sense of humour is keeping her sane. “We have a laugh and he never takes himself too seriously. I love his focus and determination in life, too, it’s something I really admire.” For Jim, it was Evie’s kindness that made him realise she was the one. “She is so thoughtful and caring to everyone she knows,” he says. “She is always incredibly supportive. It is her best quality.”

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