Often the number of friends we have dwindles as we age. What happens when you actively fight against it?
When retiree Pat Mathews was planning her post-work life in an outer suburb in Melbourne’s west, she realised she lacked friends – local friends. She remembers thinking: “You’re going to have a lonely life if you don’t do something.”
Until then, for more than 30 years, the divorcee had enjoyed a busy city job – 6am to 6pm, five days a week – surrounded by people. The two-hour commute meant she had only ever exchanged little more than a wave with her neighbours. Her closest friends were scattered hours away.
