I still might do what I threatened - live on my own in a round house in the middle of nowhere, self-sufficiently. I like an easy life

Until a few years ago all my friends were involved in the music industry, in one way or another. Although I no longer have much to do with most of them, a handful of them are still regarded as friends (although all of them are thousands of miles away), and others are now clients of mine.

If we’re lumping friends into gender groups, I have 2 male friends – one of them I have known for about 10 years (someone I know through the music industry), the other for about 5 (my ex-partners brother-in-law); the rest of the males I know are probably, at best, acquaintances. Actually, 2 of my clients have become friends as well, both personal trainers. I’m not really sure what the criteria is/are for differentiating between clients/acquaintances/friends.

The majority of my friends are female, with the vast majority of those being ex-girlfriends, although I only see one of those with any regularity.

My best friend is Miss Cork Legs.

tough one to answer really

i have my best friends - Kaz/Jen/Richard/John/Steve/Grant/Mark/Steve/Julia/Stuart

then my mates fi hearts games - Thomo/Crawf/Daz/Vicky/Adam/Nicky/Rab/Lauren

Then my mates fi sunday team (sod naming them all)

then online friends - Cazz/Hannah/Laura/Gemma and others

then mates from school days who i still see - cant be arsed wi naming them all as well

then mates who have moved away - tom/alan/heidi

So people - how do you differentiate between best friends/friends/aquaintances?
Aquaintances for me are people I may or may not know their name, I will chat whenever asked to do so and may help them out if and when I am able.
Friends are people with whom I keep regular contact with - be it online and never met them, phone, letter etc. (bearing in mind I know nobody bar one locally) - I will go out of my way to help, listen etc. if my needs at that time are not of greater urgency,
And a best friend is I guess someone who I will drop what I am doing and be there for them, metaphorically or literally if possible, and will only put my own priorities first if I absolutely have to.
And I try to treat like for like, so neither of us ends up feeling used/unfulfilled by the relationship.

i have 3 best friends 2 of whom are sisters

works out fine tho

I'm lucky to have lots of friends even though I moved away from them. Some of them I spend more time with me these days, as they come up and stay for a while when they visit and we have good quality time together. Most of my friends I have known for over 20 years, and it never matters if we haven't met for ages, 'cos we keep in touch via web, letters and phone.
I guess I have 5 friends that I'm a bit closer to than the others and 3 of them are ones I met when I moved to Norfolk. My friends are all different ages and backgrounds reflective of my non-predjudice attitude.
If I am ill or need help for anything, there will always be someone who cares enough to be here for me.
So, I am truly appreciative of the people in my life.
There are my web friends too which I love and value and people from fbx are an important part of my 'on-line community ' where support, humour and advice can be found any time day or night.
Many types of friends I guess.[/img]

I've got uncountable number of friends. But I am a bit skeptical about friends now.

I have loads of friends/mates in real life. But I have one very good friend that is almost a brother. But unfortunately when you get to my age they start dying off But I make friends easy, so I tend to replace them.

On the net I have loads of online 'friends', probably well over 100 I have met. But have one that is probably a very good a friend.
Most of the ones I chat to online are women. But the problem with some online women friends is they tend to place your friendship on how much they fancy you, and you get pushed back if someone comes along they fancy more.
Online men friends, when we meet we have a good booze up, but I rarely chat to men off the forums.

But online friends are like workmates when leaving a company..if you leave the site, the friendship normally ends.

I started a thread about friends some time ago, and I think I did get a bit of stick for my views. But I think I have probably been vindicated

to quote jegs
I have loads of friends/mates in real life. But I have one very good friend that is almost a brother. But unfortunately when you get to my age they start dying off Sad But I make friends easy, so I tend to replace them. unquote

Well that's the benefit of having friends across all the different age ranges, they're less likely to die off the same time. Although, I must be honest, there are also many young people who have died too. I am lucky here again though 'cos I'm only separated from those in spirit by the physical, and my friendship with some of them still continues from the other side.

Yes, it's sad when we can see a large section of society (that may also be our beloved friends and relatives) being wiped out by drink and drugs, especially when so young.
I know of youngsters in their teens who have been given their last warnings about the state of their liver if they continue to drink.
When me and some of my friends were coming home from our holiday, the youngest got a text from her mate informing her that a close friend had just died from taking xtc.
Even worse is that many people do both drink AND drugs. In London I hardly knew any under 30s who expected to live to old age and I think that underpins such reckless styles of living.

I'm certain that none of my friends would enjoy my idea of utopia. Maybe I'm out of touch...

I had very few friends in school, when I left I made a real lot, like 200....but only about 25 of them were close friends, and about 5 were close. When i moved away for college i found myself starting form scratch, a scary prospect.... but now i have a group of about 7 mates i see every day, and some folk form college and even a couple from online =D

But being a greedy so'n'so I would love lots more ^_^

Yes, it's true about friends when you go to live in a new area like I chose to do, it does mean you're starting from scratch again.
In my case I moved 120+ miles from where I lived before, so friends and family usually need to plan ahead when they're going to visit. This quite different from being 'dropped in'on like before.
The other thing is that if you're just in a new area and not doing a job or training anywhere that brings you into regular contact with people, you do have to find other ways to make friends. I've been lucky that I've got some really good friends now, but the problem has been that I'm only meeting men as partners of the women I know. This was one of the reasons I joined sites like this, but most men I'm coming across aren't really just wanting friends to broaden their social network. I have periods of being quite reclusive too, so new friends sometimes feel ignored, but when they know me better it ceases to be a big issue.
So far I've got my new friends from:-
1)a newsagents noticeboard(the best thing I ever got from a shop and I didn't even have to pay for it!)
2)a business course
3)in shops
4)religious service
5)introductions via my new friends
6)internet
All the other people I know now in my new area, are more acquaintances like neighbours, services like cabs and posties, people I've travelled with and so on.
Also, I talk to anyone, so that helps.