I have a friend in Coventry whom I've known for nearly 50 years! We don't keep in touch from month to month, but I call him every time I visit my sisters and we just pick up from where we left off!
It wouldn't be the same if we were texting, phoning, Skypeing, emailing, tweeting or FBing each other all the time - we would probably run out of things to talk about - but for 2 or 3 days, 4 or 5 times a year, it is great.