to ask how to make friends as a new arrival to the UK during a pandemic?

[Frequentflier]

Obviously I am not being unreasonable, but I would love some advice. I moved to London in September from India. Might seem like a crazy move in a pandemic, but I am a massive London lover and am both happy and grateful to be here, even as things are. My only problem is that I work from home ( even pre Covid) and have few opportunities to make friends. I had plans to join book clubs, choir and volunteer, and those have all obviously been dropped.. DS is 16, so no chance to make friends at the school gates. DH works v long hours, so am feeling a bit lonely and isolated. Have been visiting art galleries and so forth, but on my own. Am interested in quite a wide variety of things, reading, walking, local history, architecture, theatre. Have looked at meetups but the groups seem to be huge and not socially distanced. Are there any smaller groups that are properly distanced and outdoors maybe?

Welcome to London and I can imagine that making new friends at the moment is going to be hard. Volunteering might be the way to go for now. If you are on Facebook, look for local groups. In my area, I have joined a litter picking group and an 'acts of kindness' group who sort donations for people on need IE they will say 'This mother has just been rehoused and has no furniture, has anyone got anything?' - they often need people to help sort and deliver things. The litter picking group put out on Facebook whenever they are going out and then you can join them, although they are limiting group sizes. My mil has joined a local walking group, who meet up in large groups but are distancing.

Whereabouts in London are you?

Do you run? If you join a running club you’re in bubbles of no more than 6. Trail runs are staggered, you’re still part of a group at the beginning and end, someone checks on you, but you run on your own sort of.
Open air swimming? There are lots of lidos in London, and ponds where you can swim, find a group near you?
Hth

Try meet-up.com, a few things still happening

I've been using Bumble BFF a bit this year, it's pretty good and you can get to know people "virtually" for now if you're not comfortable meeting up just yet.

Maybe you could join a local Facebook group. We just bought a house in a new area but are planning to make the big mive at the end of the year so DS 14 can finish up this year of high school (Australian school year runs from Jan -Dec). I've joined a couple of the Facebook groups for the area I will be moving to just so we are not completely strange when we arrive.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I had no luck with FB earlier, but after much searching I found a local walking group which is socially distanced. I live in North Greenwich.
I don't run but I do swim a lot. Will check out the lidos as well. I was v keen on volunteering with Battersea Cats Home because I love cats, but I don't think that's a good idea right now.

There's a local Greenwich community page on Facebook where people put up posts and it's pretty usual. From people asking for advice to suggestions on local businesses. It would be worth joining and asking for suggestions for local clubs and groups to make friends. I live in the area and see training groups and classes in Greenwich and Blackheath parks during the weekends which might help.

I was thinking just the other day how tough it must be for people new to the country at the moment, it's hard enough in normal times!

I'd look for online activities as well - a book group, or others among the 'communities' that are starting to pop up in response to the pandemic. I think these will start increasing again in line with restrictions. An online book group, that sort of thing. My husband has got involved with a small group who all listen to the same podcast and got involved in one of the podcaster's events.

Have you tried the NextDoor app? They often highlight things that are happening locally, including where they need charity volunteers, virtual events, etc.

I know of book groups and choirs meeting online in my area. Have a hunt around, contact any local choirs and ask if they're doing anything at the moment (or know of another choir that is). Some choirs are even doing socially-distanced live rehearsals - possibly only in tier 1 areas though. The local library will probably know if there are local book groups which borrow from them and are continuing online.

Check out things like volunteering at libraries, museums, charity shops: you may find that although they don't need as many volunteers at the moment, the ones they had are mostly over-70s who have now stopped.

You could look into volunteering in a museum, gallery, park etc. Does the maritime museum in Greenwich wants volunteers?

Would you be interested in taking up a sport? I joined a tennis club over the summer and it's been a great way to meet other people outdoors in a socially-distanced environment.

I forgot to come back to this thread, but thank you all for the suggestions, some I had not considered. I will have to wait until after lockdown, maybe till next year, but good to have something to plan towards!