What would your conversation be

[JanieB]

I don't automatically talk to people in queues but I don't avoid it either. The last one was in the supermarket yesterday and was about the new pound coin and that our trolley tokens would have to be replaced. This was with a stranger who it turns out didn't know about the new coins. Usually it's with people I know as I live in a small town where I know a lot of them.

[Scarlet]

Annoyingly I don't really do conversation so if a stranger talks at me I nod, smile, and say yes and no where appropriate as I don't like to upset or offend people. (yes I am really a wallflower ). Hopefully saying what I really want to will come with age

You don't always upset/offend people when you talk to strangers. Some of them are lonely and just want to chat.

So agree with that! I love talking to strangers, I am a bit of a chatterbox you get to meet loads of interesting peeps I'm a big fish eater and I met a Korian bloke on a train once who struggled with English...I eventually got his accent and he explained that he sold fresh "feeesh" to super markets and explained how much it cost to fly ice to the UK...the fish doesn't weigh as much as the cold stuff . I met another old bloke who gave me the recipe to blackberry vodka while chatting at the reduced fruit section in the supermarket ...and there was the old chap in the coffe shop that I chatted to over Sunday brunch with two babies in tow that gave me £20 on his way out to start my babies bank accounts off....after a quick kiss on the cheek and a thank you for making an old mans Sunday morning a happy one.
I'm not sure what I'll say to the next stranger but it's worth stopping for a chat - there's loads of very interesting people out there.
Get on with it NG, you really are missing out!

[Scarlet]

I never used to talk to strangers, but moving to Wales and marrying a welshman made me do it

Haha, that too! When my kids were little I took them for a walk not far from my Mums house...and as you do said hello to every person that walked past they got back and told my Mum that "even though Mummy doesn't live here she still knows everyone"

[rary]

When we are on the Vine we have conversations with complete strangers, and I am quite sure we characterise those we read about or correspond with, even though we have never met and yet many folk feel uncomfortable talking to people in the street, when I was into hill walking when passing someone you would say hello, though there were some folk who wouldn't lift their head to acknowledge you were, thankfully only a small number, its the same in shops, a smile and a nod of the head might cheer someone up. I would love to meet VC in a shop and get into a conversation with her, though that's quite remote for generally with young women its just a smile and hello as I am quite shy

[veggiechicken]

You wouldn't have time to be shy with this "young" woman, rary.
I'm one of those annoying people who say Hallo to everyone I pass in the street and I expect, at the very least, them to smile back. I even wave at trains and get very excited when someone waves back

[Baldy]

I like to wave at coaches full of old codgers / young people just to see what happens

... gets a bit ugly sometimes...

[happyhumph]

We almost always get a wave back, but I'm accompanied by two very cute children and an extremely fluffy dog which helps

[Guest]

So agree with that! I love talking to strangers, I am a bit of a chatterbox you get to meet loads of interesting peeps I'm a big fish eater and I met a Korian bloke on a train once who struggled with English...I eventually got his accent and he explained that he sold fresh "feeesh" to super markets and explained how much it cost to fly ice to the UK...the fish doesn't weigh as much as the cold stuff . I met another old bloke who gave me the recipe to blackberry vodka while chatting at the reduced fruit section in the supermarket ...and there was the old chap in the coffe shop that I chatted to over Sunday brunch with two babies in tow that gave me £20 on his way out to start my babies bank accounts off....after a quick kiss on the cheek and a thank you for making an old mans Sunday morning a happy one.
I'm not sure what I'll say to the next stranger but it's worth stopping for a chat - there's loads of very interesting people out there.
Get on with it NG, you really are missing out!

I am not that bad but being some what of a recluse doesn't help either (when I go out or talk I tend to need a reason to). One convo that comes to mind was last year in Aldi when the English strawbs had hit the shelves and my girls eating them before we get home. I think it depends where you live. In London I had someone tell me I had a lookalike (who was a twin) living in Bethnel Green and it started with the person thinking I was them. An old dear who thought I looked like her Granddaughter but her Husband wasn't very impressed and almost dragged her off. Some old boy in Tesco that I don't remember a thing but felt so sorry for him as he seemed lonely, someone asking if I was often about at a certain bus stop (someone at work pointed out you have to be forward in London, seems quite obvious now), on the trains there was an ex I.T worker turned window cleaner but happy, a guard for downing street. Maybe I was all talked out in my younger days

I am a smiler when out and about though, I hate seeing everyone miserable.

[Cadalot]

I like to wave at coaches full of old codgers / young people just to see what happens

... gets a bit ugly sometimes...

My kids used to like to play the sweet and sour game of waving to people in cars on the motorway and seeing if they got a smile and response when they were little. Both volunteered and worked in a charity shop and then the chemist and had to deal with the great British public including the druggies that came in for their methadone.

I'm happy to start a conversation with anyone, happy to reach items on the top shelf for short little old ladies that are shopping and just generally smile at people without trying to look like I have escaped from the men in white coats.

[Jay22]

I'm shy so don't usually start the conversations but like Cad, because I'm tall, I usually get asked to get,such and such off the shelf for some small person in the supermarket and that leads to conversation. The nicest one was just after we lost Alfie dog and I was still so upset. My OH and I went to the supermarket and an old guy we passed said to me 'Cheer up, it's always nice to see a dad take his daughter out'! That made me smile!

[rary]

Rary I don't understand the point of this thread... we're british, surely we only talk about the weather?!

It's as vixylix has put it, nowadays people don't talk to one another other than about the weather, and it is now put down to being the British way, and yet when I was younger people spoke to each other in passing some time it would just be a halo or about the weather but many times it was a conversation, I remember many times being told to stand at peace while my mother or older sisters had a chat,but now we are all to busy to pass the time of day with each other, such a pity, life could be so much nicer if we would take the time to say good morning

[Cadalot]

I use to find that walking the dog one got to know lots of people around the area, and you would chat with them for years often never knowing of forgetting their name after the first exchange. There was one police lady and her dog and mine got on and we would walk the blocks together, She ended up having three children which I have seen grow up.

[Nannysally99]

We are both annoying people who greet others with a smile and a hello when we are out and about. I think the confidence comes with age, I'm old enough to not worry about it.
Hubby goes to the shops every morning for bread and quite often says he's had a conversation with someone he doesn't know ........

[Lumpy]

This is going to make me sound iffy but I'm a hermit at heart. I'm quite aloof I suppose to the point where I will say 'Hello' to dog walkers going past me and Pops (the elderly Lab) because I know they won't stop to talk.

I blame a childhood spent country hopping and 12 differant schools for leaving me socially defunct!

I prefer books and dogs to people.

[veggiechicken]

There was one police lady and her dog and mine got on and we would walk the blocks together, She ended up having three children which I have seen grow up.

Did they look like you Cad?