I have read all your replies and think it is not being alone so much that is the problem but loneliness is harder.
I think many of you have family and grandchildren around, but for those of us who are much older ( nearly 85) with no family living close by it is different. Both my sons live overseas and my daughter lives a coupe of hours away from London and still works and gets very tired. So she will visit for weekends now and again. I adore dogs and cats but our block rules don’t allow them. I am lucky in that I visit my second son often and he has dogs who I adore. As son remains single he likes having me there and wants me to stay permanently, but even at my age I would miss the convenience of the big city and health provision is not good for people like me with chronic illness.
I have very few friends and spend hours on the internet as I support dog welfare groups and enjoy my net time. I love radio and listen to different stations all day. I generally try to go out every day and I often have hospital appointments for various tests.
I should go back to U3A which I stopped because I am away from UK so much and I have just joined Silverline.
So as we grow older and so many of us outlive our partners loneliness can be problematic. I don't know whether I am lonely or not! I could invite people for lunch or dinner, but much prefer to meet at a restaurant so I can relax without hassle. I should make more effort to meet people but I lack the drive. In other words I am like a dog sitting on a thorn and just too tired to get off it (old song).
Hope you do not mind me rambling on but I guess I chose this subject for my talk as it is on my mind so much and I thought it may help others as well as myself to discuss it.
Thank you for reading and any suggestions welcome! I am writing this on my phone so apologies for typos!
How do you acknowledge Easter.