Hells Bells - it's happened!!

Shopkeeper in a local shop looked terrified when, the first time I shopped there, I started blethering about why there was a cardboard tube in my bag while I was trying to stuff my purchases around it.

He's got used to me now. Well.... slightly.

Kitty round here everyone chats to everyone else, you don't have to be old! I think there must be a bylaw saying it is illegal to ignore others at the main bus stop!

A while back when getting the bus from the nearest city we all stood back to allow a wheelchair and pushchair on the bus first. When the bus moved off a young man asked if anyone knew the football scores from last night, then we all talked about the toddler in the pushchair and as people got off at their stop we all said goodbye and see you later. All the best of friends by the time I got off.

When I go to other areas I have to stop myself smiling and saying hello to others I pass.

No one round here cares if you faff around at the checkout although it used to really annoy me when I was in my lunch break in a city.

Ooh yes. I'm a bus stop bletherer. Most of the check out ladies in our local shops are also very friendly. You can generally judge when someone doesn't want to engage though at least I hope I can!

thats normal here ,a friend who moved here from the midlands was astounded when she asked for directions and the driver said jump in hen and I'll take you..not only did he take her he told her abut things to do in the area and waited and brought her back ...lol

Join the club!
Nothing wrong with chatting to complete strangers without appearing to be on the pull they might be lonely and welcome a friendly word too

I have some nice chats with complete strangers in supermarkets particularly but on one occasion I was asked by a woman for a date. DH has never let me forget it.

I enjoy chatting to strangers. I got talking to Joe Pasquale's uncle last year!

I always chat to people whilst in queues etc it may be the only interaction with other people that these people get during the day,the worst place I have always found is Doctors Surgeries where most times people don't even look at you I wonder why that is ?

Myself and a lady I sometimes chatted to at the bus stop both ended up having a little cry, a while back. She had always talked about her son, and I had thought how nice it was that he lived with her and they got on so well. She suddenly blurted out that he is a bully.. then I got upset, so we had a little weep. We're back to just casual chat now.

Worry not kitty. I'm an inveterate chatterer! I'll talk to anyone and everyone, wherever I am. I also sing along to myself in the street. When DD was a little girl, every time we went out, she would tell me not to sing. ??

It's pretty friendly and chatty round here, too. Though I agree with the doctor's surgery! Unless people see someone they know, it's silent in there.

When I visit my son in London, I find the lack of chit chat a bit weird, it feels very lonely.

I'm a chatter too. So's my DH. He toddles off into town most mornings to buy bread, milk etc and can be back in five minutes if it's raining, but an hour (or more) if it's a nice day.

And our doctors surgery is a buzz of conversation as a rule. If it isn't it soon is once I'm settled. I hate sitting in silence.

I will chatter away to anyone I meet casually - and always have done: it is not a function of age. Seem to completely lose this skill when placed in a formal situation with lots of people I do not know.

Thats me will chat any time any place anywhere with anyone....Like to make them laugh too

That's me too, very shy about some things but talk to everyone on my journeys around and about funny that if I m out with the grandkids they ll say who was that Nan and I say 'I don't know never seen them before' they think I m mad as a box of frogs

monica, isn't that weird - happens to me too. Come to think of it, it didn't happen to mum. She could talk for England - listening was not her forte but I'm quite good at that.

I enjoy a good old chat whether it's in a shop, a restaurant or on a journey. I never used to but it crept up on me over the years. Must be village life as we all talk all the time. I have a friend in London who can't believe how I chatter on with anyone who is up for it: he is mortified - I just tell him he's a miserable old so and so. I sat on a train recently for 9 hours and the only person up for a chat in all that time was the trolley lady . Very odd sitting next to someone all that time who didn't say one word.

That could have been me marmight. I've lost the art of chattering since I stopped work. I listen well though. My Mum wasn't a chattered either, so yes, * kitty* I'm turning into my Mum. .

Me too!

I do as well. Why not mutter about the bus service or the weather and joke if you feel like it. Even simple passing chats can make people feel better.

A few years ago on a train to Edinburgh. A man I did not know who joined the train at Lancaster and sat at my table.

I was reading the geology guide for my trip and somehow we started chatting about his trip which was to test flasks for storing nuclear waste.
I started asking a lot of questions as I am generally interested in earth science stuff so we had an interesting talk.
The steward selling refreshments assumed we were together. Far more interesting than sitting dozing .

I met a lady on a flight to Scotland who had headed the enquiry into abuse in a care home. The one that was secretly filmed, with staff dragging a lady outside into the snow, and emptying a vase of flowers over her head. We chatted for ages about it all.

I always chat to strangers and everyone is generally friendly in return but noticed its always me that instigates the conversations.
Decided a few times to keep quiet and see if anyone started to talk to me....i waited and waited! Nothing!!
I dont mind, cant change how i am so will keep on carrying on.

Another one here kitty but nothing to do with age, as have always done it.Why not be friendly with a few words, or if wanted by both parties, an entire conversation.