[hollowone]

RE

If there are meetup groups where you are but not meeting when or where you want to, or doing the type of meets you want, have you considered either hosting an event yourself

don't know how to go about the and the commitment but..

or suggesting an event to the Organizer?

Yes I have thought about that. Proposing a games night (board games, such as uno, jungle-speed, card games etc.) as a social opportunity. That's how the couchsurfing meet started.

I bang on about it enough, and this post will be no different: cycling. It can be solitary, with occasional social dips if desired.

Yeh, I do enough of it myself. Wish I had a nice young woman to join me.

By 'informal social opportunities' I was really referring to things that you could just drop into, where there might be a core of regulars, not necessarily pubs, but this includes drop-in groups, meet-up groups and the couchsurfing groups. Places where you're bound to bump-tinot people who are regulars, get to know their social circles.

What I meant about pubs was that these days, they are not used as such avenues, they're used just to get pissed as a fart and escape the grind, not as a social 'third place'. It's only older people that use them that way and it's only older people that you can have decent conversations with.

RE

I bang on about it enough, and this post will be no different: cycling. It can be solitary, with occasional social dips if desired.

This is one of my favourite activities, and a good mood booster in and of itself. I just wish I had people to join me on rides. I do join a local ccling club on rides on Tuesday nights, depending on where they do rides and accessibility. It's my mates dad's working mens' club, so socially, it's all middle-aged men. would be nice to have a woman to go on rides with, go exploring the countryside, but such is not accessible. I might as well be stranded on top of a mountain or stuck inside a submarine.

Was in a pub tonight, surrounded by plenty of women. As far as social connections and social circles go, reasons to start conversations goes; I felt so distant, that I might as well be in a submarine under the arctic looking at pictures. That's how far-removed I feel from meeting new people. This last paragraph is bringing-up a slightly different note from the OP.