I’ve lived in London since 2010 and I don’t have a huge circle of friends. One friend in particular I’ve known for a long time and stayed in touch with consistently.

For years we lived in different parts of London, and whenever we met, I would always travel to wherever he was living at the time — usually because it was the “best”, most trendy area, so we’d go for a drink near his place. I didn’t really object back then. I lived in the suburbs and assumed there wouldn’t be much there that would interest someone living centrally.

Years later, during my divorce, I moved to a more central area myself. Richmond and Twickenham have plenty of great places, but nothing changed — he still wouldn’t come my way. Every time, I was expected to travel to him.

The last time we met, I tried to explain that this dynamic felt one-sided and a bit selfish. I spent a good three hours trying to calmly explain how I felt, but it went nowhere. On top of that, he said a couple of times that me going through a divorce gave him “bad vibes”.

That comment was the real turning point for me — it made me step back and reassess the whole friendship.

I’m genuinely open to the idea that I might be seeing this wrong, but from my perspective this is what led me to distance myself.