I like my own space. I like being alone, doing what I want, when I want. I've been that way since my teens. I had really good friends at school, but after we left and went on to working life we drifted apart. I have no idea where or what they're doing now.

But, I also like to chat, discuss, learn, share, to be with people I like and who like me back. Everyone needs that emotional prop, to know they're appreciated, liked, loved. It's probably taken me three decades to feel confident enough to talk to strangers in the supermarket checkout queue. I don't do small talk well, but I know enough to pass a few moments of idle chitchat. Sometimes I can get by with just a friendly smile.

I am very comfortable with online friends. I've made loads of friends literally all over the world via this internet thingy. Some of those people I have actually met in person, and happily we still get on! I've started making more friends locally around my hobbies, but we still aren't close. We all have our own lives, and I fear I'm too aware of that and don't like to throw myself into their lives without checking it's okay first. There's still a way to go before we become close friends, I think.

In some ways I don't like having good mates so far away geographically. It would be fantastic to just have an on-the-spur-of-the-moment meal, or whatever. I know I can text or IM and we can start a conversation about something, but sometimes you need a bit more than that. It is nice, though, to know you can be there if someone needs support.

Funny old thing, life.

I seem to miss out on activities with my friends sooooooo much since I've had children.

Some very familiar stories in this thread.

My longest held best friends I met at school and college. It's an environment where you get to meet a large number of people, and at university especially it's easy to find people with similar taste and interests. At these times, we were all geographically close and saw each other often. At uni I basically partied every night... but now we're grown and have our own lives far apart, we're lucky to meet up more than once a year.

When I came to the village 15 years ago there were a bunch of us met up every week down the local pub. I actually chose to live here in no small part to be close to friends, but one by one they all did things like starting families and moving away. I'm very grateful that one best mate still lives within walking distance, so we can and do socialise frequently.

In recent years I've made some really good friends via the interwebs, and there's a couple of groups of us who do meet up fairly regularly. It's always a logistical exercise because of the travelling involved, people working shifts and various "grown up" commitments, but it's always worth it. MSN, forums and blogging keep us in touch between events. I've even been known to use the telephone, although I much prefer tapping a keyboard at my convenience.

On a day to day basis I've been lucky enough to enjoy working with some really great people. It's the nature of the game that being an engineer, I'm going to meet some people who chose the same career and have things in common. I have been planning a BBQ for 2 years but it probably isn't going to happen. As much as I love the guys I don't really want to take them home with me!