Hope this doesn't make me sound too callous, but someone who was formerly a close friend has drifted so far away from me that I no longer feel we have anything in common and indeed I have found interacting with her so annoying when it's happened that I just want to draw a line under things and let it go.
But this week she's emailed and suggested meeting up (with another friend) in a way that doesn't brook the possibility that I might not want to.
Any ideas for how I could get out of it and terminate the friendship? I feel it would be too fake to go along for the sake of it (and would also be a waste of a rare night out, because it would be annoying and dull), but equally it feels harsh to say I've no interest in meeting up or to agree and then cancel on the day!
I guess I'm looking for a way of telling her that she shouldn't bother keeping in touch with me, but without being too outspoken about it. Very English.
I haven't gone into the whys and wherefores of why I have "fallen out of like" with her, but I can say that I'm a good friend who tries harder than the average to keep things afloat with friends throughout changes in circumstances, but she didn't reciprocate and has turned into quite a different person from one I want to expend energy on.