Hells Bells - it's happened!!

Knowing I'll have to pay I remove my wallet from my pocket so I do not delay those behind me.

I can do this while chatting and often do.

Pockets are a wonderful invention.

Now I have my free bus pass I travel to town and back every day, enjoying the chatter

I think we talk more to people at bus stops, etc as we get older as we've gained more confidence. I certainly didn't converse much as a teenager - I was brought up to be shy and not say boo to a goose - not particularly helpful when it comes to coping in everyday life.
We don't say much in doctors' waiting rooms as we're scared we may be asked about our ailments which could be rather personal! After all wouldn't it be embarrassing if we said that we'd got a funny rash somewhere private? place

I don't remember my mother ever standing and chatting in the street...nor my older sister ( 11 years older ,so another generation really). But me I'll talk to most people, but some I'm more in-tune with. If it's just moaning or gossip I don't want to know... but idle chit-chat or interesting stuff I' m your woman. By the time I've got three miles into town some people feel like old friends! Wink

When my daughter and I used to travel by bus to meet my mum, we would have bets as to who she would be chatting to at the bus station. It was either someone she knew or a complete stranger. She couldn't just stand and wait. Now I realise I do the same thing.
The other week I was waiting for my partner and looking in a jeweller's window and was joined by an old lady. She started telling me about her late husband and how they had got engaged, where they got the ring and then about her sons who were living in Australia. Then she asked if I wanted to go and get something to eat with her. I felt so guilty saying that I couldn't as we were on our way somewhere else. I often wonder if she found someone else to chat to later.

Some years ago I got into conversation with a man on a train, who eventually divulged that he was meeting someone in London who had cheated him out of his life savings and he ( my travelling companion) was planning to kill him! Did my best to talk him out of it and he gave me a peck on the cheek when we parted!

Yes, that's me too. If I cannot speak to my friend on the phone, I would speak to no one, only the dog, all day.

Go for it. Some of the most interesting and also some very deep conversations have been had with people met briefly on trains, boats, planes, bus stops etc. How many times have we all had chats with other women in the endless queues for the Ladies loo as men breeze in and out in 2 minutes? Lovely girls bonding moments. Just respect those people who don't want to talk-they have their reasons.

Has anyone heard of the Coffee Companions website? You can download chat mats to use in cafes, on trains etc. Although it does sound like most of the ladies on here have no problems starting a conversation!

Why stop talking to people..? Sometimes it's the only conversation I get, talking to 'strangers'..... have always done it since young, and talk even more to people now I'm an 'oldie'!!!
Haven't quite got to the stage of fumbling in my purse though!!!! lol!

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Me too!

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. .

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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. ??