My friends are moving to Australia, which, as Suzy put it, in geographical terms is the same as moving to space. Photograph: David Gray/AFP/GettyLast Saturday I drove to Wicklow, to the house our friends Suzy and Danny bought after the pandemic, when we had given up hope of all living in the same neighbourhood in Dublin. “What’s hardest,” Suzy said, staring into one of the fishbowl gin and tonics we were drinking, “is that your friendships won’t grow from here. There are the obvious reasons – children, work, fatigue – but there’s also something subtler: a collective retreat from effort. I sometimes wonder if part of what we call friendship fatigue is really exhaustion with the work real closeness takes.

Source: The Irish Times November 10, 2025 08:37 UTC