Some weeks back I was allowing myself to stare into the abyss a bit and contemplating that here I am in my late 50's and I have no, among many other things, friends. Oh, I have plenty of genial acquaintances in real life and people I've known a very long time who I have occasional contact with. Folks who'd give me real, tangible help if I was in need are out there, as are those for whom I'd do likewise; probably two closely-overlapping circles on a Venn diagram. Every few years I have a girlfriend for a while.
There's no one I hang out with. No one seeks the pleasure of my company, casual or otherwise. By the same token, I seek not that of others. Used to be easy, throwing back a brew or two and shooting the shit, back in the day, but me no drinky long time. There's flying friends and we ride up the mountain 6-10 at a time for a half-hour in a van or in smaller carpools but it's all who happens to be there that day, at least for me. Not much "Hey ___________, let's go _____________ next weekend.", mostly because I don't like to _____________ , especially on weekends.
This was all more a framing-things-clearly than a self-pitying lamentation. Here's how it is, there's probably a good reason.
Fast-forward a couple of weeks and John Mullaney hosts SNL and during his monologue mentions how his Dad (likely my slightly-older peer) has no friends. The guys he socializes with are the husbands of his wife's friends. So true; seen it. Subtract the wife and whatcha got? (my wife had no local friends, FWIW) Actually felt a little better.
Now we're looking at various levels of formal and informal quarantine and "social distancing" for Covid-19 and here I am an old pro!