God this weather - its like being slowly melted into the very grooves of Bob Mould's 'Black Sheets of Rain' - anyway, when you see or hear of people living on their own regardless of their age is it through choice as in "I fooking 'ate t'uman race, but love staying in emptying me sacks over Buffy re-runs", or is it though bad luck that no matter how much you crave human company it just all goes horrible wrong - is it some sort of 'unlucky' gene that enables some people to go through life beetling away morosely with the only likely ending being found in their armchair with the television reflecting 'Cash in the Attic' onto their 2 week dead takeway surrounded body as the police break down the door?

Is this lonliness or just a wanton desire to shun human company?