My name is Ed. I'm 37 next week and looking for new friends. Most of my socialising is done online via instant messaging on Messenger and WhatsApp. I enjoy occasional phone calls with people too.

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I'm 3.5 years sober from alcohol and 3 weeks sober from weed. With the latter I've had an on/off relationship over the past 18 years. I still have other addictions - namely internet, impulsive spending, comfort eating (although thankfully an ectomorph) and people pleasing. I used to also have a gaming addiction but these days I only play a few hours a week, instead of 50 .

I have an alternative look, with piercings, tattoos and dreadlocks. Truth be told, I don't really enjoy a lot of things that people assume I'd be into - given my look. I've been told that I'm a bit of an enigma. Another recurring description over the years has been people saying I'm one of the nicest people they've ever met.

It's not easy though. I'm very introvert, and my social battery doesn't hold much charge. Although, in conversations I am open, and in turn I find people readily open up to me. I also have a lot of empathy and compassion. There has been a pattern of attracting other creative types, but also a lot of people who've known addiction and trauma. I'm weary of being around emotional vampires these days, and had to cut off a large amount of friends. It was a very difficult decision to make, especially as I'm a people pleaser.

Around a select few, my playful and hyperactive side comes out. I'm on the spectrum, and spent several decades living with anxiety & depression. It's the flipside to my creative aspects of my personality. Best way to describe it would be emotionally hypersensitive. Which adds a depth and exhaustive quality to life.

I'm Converting a van to live in faraway. It's a Luton box van that I got resprayed in purple. Currently having the last of the carpentry work done, then it's saving up for all the electrics.

I am an introverted & perceptive old soul. Modern values are quite confusing to me, and it often feels like we're living in the last days of Rome.

I'm a quirky, playful & resilient altruist. At 6'4" and with an extremely polite, shy and helpful nature - friends have called me the Big Friendly Giant.

I'm fond of 1-to-1 deep conversations, nature, animals, contact fire staffing/spinning, drawing from my imagination, "me time" to recharge, creative writing, comedy TV shows and stand-up comedy, PC building and gaming, dabbling on Photoshop, reading (non-fiction), and collecting an eclectic mix underground music genres, especially those with complex percussion and deep basslines.

Now for the things I dislike which is where I think I run aground. I dislike group socialising - it's sensory overload and normally I'm a mute observer and the first to go home, pop culture - in all it's forms; trust me, if it's popular or trendy I probably loathe it, small-talk - why talk when you have nothing to say? I avoid crowded environments, drunkards, nightlife - settlements on a Friday or weekend night are greasy. I struggle with loud people, and I abhor violence, festivals, anime, cosplay & musicals.

That about does it.

Ed