‘We’ve talked for hundreds of hours’: the joy of volunteering as a telephone friend

We’re 50 years apart and have never met, but my connection with Pauline is deeper than I could have imaginedAll best friends were strangers once. Why, then, does reaching out to someone you don’t know, making platonic connections in the modern world, feel like such a bold, even brave thing to do?Let me tell you about my friend, Pauline. Like all good friends, we make a point of catching up at least once a week, talking for hours about everything and nothing at all. But Pauline and I,