How We Met: Stories of friendship from the Guardian news

By Gary Davis

Find Fabulous Friends is dedicated to building a community of friends, where members, and newcomers, can expect that others are actively interested to establish friendships.

Yet friendships can, and do, arise in the most unexpected ways. Diane Mahoney and I, for example met a couple Anne and Paul, sitting in front of us at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, on Cape Cod. Diane got to chatting extensively with Anne, and has recently met up with her for lunch, saying she feels Anne is likely to become a very good friend.

The online Guardian news has regular stories on friendships – romantic and platonic  – on its How We Met series. Some of these platonic friendships include:

• Anita, 59, and Gino, 84, who met in a small village in South Tyrol, Italy. They clicked instantly when she bought him a coffee, and discovered how much they both loved music and dance.
• Barbara, 69, and Susie, 56, who became close in 2020, when they were living at the same apartment complex in Bordeaux. They now speak every day and go on regular holidays together.
• Rebecca and Clare, both 43, became friends at university in 1999. Rebecca describes their relationship as more important than any romance.
• Simonetta and Juliet, both 58, met during the pandemic at an outdoor swimming club. They now live in different parts of the world, but remain close friends.
• Dave, 53, and Naveen, 40, met in 2015 and built a friendship based on their love of cricket and food. In the difficult days of the pandemic, their support for each other deepened.
• Madhumita, 58, Kashmira, 71, and Mira, 59, formed an unshakeable friendship after bonding online over their favorite actor. They live in different parts of India, but talk every day.
• Neo, 46, and Becky, 54, met at a festival in 2017. Their friendship grew over lockdown, when they bonded over shared childhood experiences and the Black Lives Matter movement.
• Alexios and Leandro worked on a Greek summer camp, discovered a shared sense of humor and have been best friends ever since.
• Gemma, 29, and Annie, 27, live in the same block of flats. They bonded as they fought ‘crazy’ fuel bills.

Potential friendships – brief, casual, long-lasting, or life changing – might be just around the corner. All it takes is an open mind and open heart.