[biscuits]

Aww that is nice that your meet ups with people went well :D

It would be grand to be able to skip that initial awkward part and get to the bit where you can chat freely, wouldn't it hehe. Hopefully if they turn up regularly to your meets then you'll have more opportunities to get to know them and find convo topics.

In response to your initial question...It's lovely that you have some regular friends, and it's always a good thing to be open to the idea of making new ones because it means new experiences/points of view etc. People understandably have slightly different levels of comfort and safety in social situations at the moment based on their personal circumstances.

Also having coffee and/or tea or squash with people = the best.