I gave away an old switch to a guy on Gumtree. He mentioned he was building a machine cabinet. We got talking. He's now my home lab shoptalk guy, and we meet in the pub every other month.

I gave away an old PCB to a guy in gumtree. We got talking. He's now my 3D printer shop talk guy, and we meet at the pub every other month.

It's surprisingly easier to foster your own hacker space if you trade goods in those circles.

Best part is that Gumtree/Craigslist/Kleinanzeigen let you define a radius to meet these people, so they're all local

I'd advise against the "Im lonely..." angle in seeking out these connections, go more for the "hey I've got this thing you might want..." style patter, even if the former is true.

And always use protection.