Pals are great but as you get older they tend to die off but a family remains to be enjoyed.

It sounds to me as if you want friends more than 'dates'. This is a good site for chatting to people and sharing stuff when you want to have other opinions. It is only good as a dating site if there are people within a reasonable distance of you, and my impression is that so far members are rather thinly scattered. You mention in your introduction that you enjoy museums - does your local museum have a Friends group, or are there other local organisations where you might meet like-minded people? I don't have the opportunity at the moment, but in the past I have made friends through volunteering at my local volunteer bureau.