My 40+ so called Mate used to say this about me in front of the Young Lasses he use try & chat to as he was chewing gum like a fecking horse, I kept to one side observing the looks on the lasses, more often than not they used to come & talk to me about anything they wanted, a lot of us are quite, a lot of use lack the ability to chat about life's going on's, Listen as a friend, you said you are long time friends, that's what friends do even though it might be boring, have you ever thought, they might have said that about you!! worth a thought, but a thought of loosing friends would worry me more.