<thread deviation> I've thought of myself as a generally 'aware and condemning racism' sort of chap, but have had a wake up call recently, due to the newest member of the family being part Chinese. My Son and her are trying to find a flat/house and one of her chief concerns is that the area they move to will accept someone 'who looks like her'. It never occurred to me that this would be an issue in this day and age. So, a wake up call, and maybe a reminder to all of us privileged white folks to not be so flippant.
Back to the original question:
I'm not sure being over 35 changes this much. Young people also struggle with meeting and making friends. My answer would be to try special interest clubs (cycling, walking, book reading, whatever, just pick things you are interested in). It has always worked for me. As a painfully shy young man I found great friends in a walking club in Australia; we'd go walking on weekends, meet up for meals out during the week. Big advantage of joining a special interest club is that you immediately have something in common to talk about, which avoids all that awkward stilted conversation thing that takes place between complete strangers.