Friendships running their course... sad or necessary?

Walter, remember when the world was young
And all the girls knew walters name?
Walter, isnt it a shame the way our little world has changed?
Do you remember, walter, playing cricket in the thunder and the rain?
Do you remember, walter, smoking cigarettes behind your garden gate?
Yes, walter was my mate,
But walter, my old friend, where are you now?

Walters name.
Walter, isnt it a shame the way our little world has changed?
Do you remember, walter, how we said wed fight the world so wed be free.
Wed save up all our money and wed buy a boat and sail away to sea.
But it was not to be.
I knew you then but do I know you now?

Walter, you are just an echo of a world I knew so long ago
If you saw me now you wouldnt even know my name.
I bet youre fat and married and youre always home in bed by half-past eight.
And if I talked about the old times youd get bored and youll have nothing more to say.
Yes people often change, but memories of people can remain.

(Do You Remember Walter by the Kinks)

Have you ever found yourself in the situation where life long friends stop making the effort or you just realise that you have grown apart? Have you ever known a Walter, or felt that you have become one yourself?

this happened to me recently, talked to my old best friend for the first time in like 4 months a few days but the conversation never really went anywhere. it kinda sucked, life i guess right

a few days ago*

Just got into this album recently...

If you saw me now you wouldnt even know my name.

.. made me smile. He'd say "That's Ray Davies of the Kinks! We went to school together"

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Sad, and necessary, of course.

Loads of people. It's called growing up, innit?

nothing lasts.

It's kinda sad but I've come to accept it as something that can't really be reversed. You make new friends and at the same time some of the old ones fade away, that's just the way it is.

I've always kept my friends - a lot of people who I've known since I was very little are still my best friends 20 years later or more. But recently one particular friend has become very distant. He's still around but acts aloof, often sloping off without saying bye or waiting for anyone else to come along, or just generally not turning up to occasions/gatherings that he always would have only a year ago and then being quite offhand about it.

Friends come and go, that's a given but are lifelong friendships so easily disposable?

if it's been disposed of then it's not a lifelong friendship right?

Different things here.

1. Childhood / school etc friends who are very important at one point, then lost later cos life changes (this is what the song's about?)

2. Friendships that go sour or run out for some, sometimes specific reason or other

3. Friendships that don't 'run their course' at all but just become harder to maintain at the same level cos people are busy and their own lives have to develop. This is more of a 30+ experience. Most of the people I was delighted and privileged to get to know a decade ago, some of whom have even posted here, I don't feel tired of or alienated from at all -- I just don't get to see them so often what with the marriages, children and all the rest of it.