How long do you go without speaking to someone?

I live in a very friendly cul-de-sac where everyone knows one an other. If I feel like a chat, I just ring one of them and ask them over for a coffee (I live on my own) and more often than not, if they are not busy, they will come over for a chat. Most of my neighbours are retired. Besides, there are a couple of regular dog-walkers who walk past my house. I sometimes step out to chat to them, because I know them and their dogs. I have a couple of friends who I talk to most days, on the phone. I guess I'm lucky that way.

I too can go days without speaking to someone, unless you call talking to yourself or the tv as conversation. Even the children now seem to text rather than phone. I am not inclined to join groups, I have never done that before and somehow have no inclination to do it now. I keep telling myself to go to bingo at least once a week but it takes me such a long time to get motivated in a morning that I usually find I am too late to go. I keep telling myself it will be better in the summer , that's if we get a summer this year. I don't like to go to the shops more than once a week because I always end up buying something that I don't need but it seemed a good idea at the time.

"I can go days not chatting to anyone and that’s fine as I’m happy in my own company.
I have a dog so I know my voice still works lol"
>this<
everyone is far away and living their lives.
thunderstorm coming in right now.
cat1 behind me,cat2 on one side,staffy pup on otherside.they keep my voice working!

Dee - your story is similar to mine.
And thanks to Babs for starting this thread.

Even if you can and do get out, if you live alone you can spend most of a week without really talking to anyone and perhaps only saying "here you are" to the person at the supermarket check-out, as I remember very clearly from the days before I met DH.

I think the reason elderly people chat in the street, the bus or at a bus-stop is that we were brought up to greet neighbours and to make polite conversation in buses, trains, waiting rooms etc. Now others (younger people) look at us as if we were mad, bad or perverted when we do so.

I can go a couple of days without speaking to anyone but the cat. It doesn't bother me overmuch as I'm happy with my own company.
I sometimes start a conversation if I'm ever at a bus stop or in the vet's waiting room. Most people are happy to have a little chat.

I am a very friendly, sociable person noone would believe I was a shy child although I still find meeting new people especially somewhere I don't know a challenge. I have to force myself out of my comfort zone but it has been rewarding. I moved 3 years ago (widowed 5 years ago) to a new area to be nearer DD & DGSs. Luckily my neighbours are friendly, after I was in Hospital with Pneumonia I was "picked up" by my local Community Care group, Lunch once a month, Afternoon Tea once a month & transport if required for a small payment.

I have also joined a couple of Meet Up groups & started Pilates. I intend to join WI again at some point. I am fortunate that I can still drive & despite some mobility issues still get out.

Winter is worse as every-one stays indoors or dashes out to the shops but I do love my own company. I have a cat & we have "conversations". I love quiz shows & programmes like Question Time so I'm frequently talking to shouting at the TV.

I ring my DM every 2/3 days as she is 89, lives in a small village & although she does still go out in the bad weather & Christmas can be times when she doesn't speak to any-one. I also have a friend in Somerset who I ring or she rings me frequently. I communicate with DD on Facebook Messenger mostly.

I'm always happy to chat in shops, it helps that I am very interested in people & worked in Catering in my teens & 20s. The day will come when I am less able to get out but until then I'm going to "grab life by the horns" & make the most of my opportunities whilst I can. As my DD said I'm Adventurous Nan, she encourages me

Lost my fantastic best friend/husband five years ago and the loneliness without him is often unbearable. I live alone and work from home. Personal emails mean so much, even if they're trivial.

I too can go days without speaking to anyone and as you say its since I retired it does take time to adjust especially if you're worked since leaving school which amounts to abot 70% of your life.To make things worse many companies when phoned only have automated services

Too long really. I often don't speak to anyone for several days. My family tend to keep in touch electronically - text, whatsapp, email, which is fine except that my jaw is becoming set so that when I do have to speak it's getting physically difficult.

reading the question correctly, my husband and I are leaving Spain to come back to England because here, without getting in a car, there is no-one to talk to. I'm a sociable person and find it difficult to survive without regular interaction. It makes geting out of bed difficult, as there doesn't seem to be a reason to be up and about.

I misunderstood this question slightly and my answer was going to be that my husband and I have managed to ignore each other for seven weeks. Beat that! After that length of time such as that, it's hard to remember what the disagreement was about and we just decide to be friends again.

Nanpops7 - what a story you tell. I wish you were my friend, you would be fun.

When I was just married we went to live abroad. My new husband was often away for weeks on end. I have never known such loneliness. I used to write long letters to family and friends. Thank goodness I've never experienced that loneliness since returned to UK.

When I go out without the 'serial bigamist' I find it really easy to talk to people I don't know but that may be down to where I live. Everyone here seems to be friendly. Even walking along the residential roads everyone says 'hello' or good morning/afternoon. That applies whatever their age.

When catching the bus to the city it feels like there is a local bylaw that says we all have to chat, because we always do.

Yesterday while waiting for my exercise class a much younger woman started to speak to me and I felt we got to know each other really rather well in 10 minutes. A couple more weeks and we will be good friends!

When I went to order my new glasses on Friday the young man who served me was really friendly and now I know all about his autistic son and his little daughter. I think active listening may have a lot to do with it.

I do have one friend who does most of the talking and I can't get a word in edgeways but she is fine in other respects!

I don't get a chance, ReadyMeals - it's like they've gone to autopilot and they chunter on and on and on, oblivious to my glazed eyes and my very soul being gradually sucked out of my brain......

If you are mobile then there a a heap of things to do out there, you just have to bite the bullet and join. It isn’t easy of course as most groups can feel very cliquey but persevere, friendships take time. For those not able to get out and about of course it is difficult but groups like this really help alleviate that feeling that you are the only person in the world on their own.

Margs, even more polite might be "Oh dear, well I won't pry" and turn away lol

I'm fairly content with my own company - I've never been a fan of 'small-talk'.

When I go to the local bus stop - which is right outside our main hospital - I always get "press-ganged" into conversation by some complete stranger whose opening gambit is predictably "I've just been to see a consultant at the hospital" and that forces me, out of basic politeness, to ask "why?" and then they're away!

Yakkity,yakkity,yakkity ad nauseam. A stranger's entire intimate medical history is poured into my ears, operations, medications, complications, relapses, tests, tests, tests.......

I can't wait to get back home, shut the door and barricade myself inside utterly solitary peace and quiet!

Marieeliz, under offer means someone offered to buy the house at a certain amount and it was accepted. But they haven't completed the transaction yet and are probably still having surveys done. It's not too late to try and make a higher offer if you want to, as the agent is obliged to put it to them and they may change their minds and accept yours. I don't really approve of this practice but just giving you a factual reply. As for the not calling on you issue, is it because of your dog? If not, then take the dog with you when you go to see them! It will keep you safer and stop it being disturbed by the neighbors in your absence.

I chat with my kids throught the day on FB. An old friend has been e mailing me everyday for years, as she works from home and I have become her colleague in the office, although 250 miles apart.

Some days though, no real conversations and if everybody else died of or gave up on me, I would hate the intrusion of Silver line..........Esther Rantzen is in my opinion a public menace with her ideas. We need a less hostile environment, more benches to facilitate people being out and chatting, more local shops being subsidised to provide that face to face meeting with people. I have worked in several charity shops over the years, the same people come in every day, for a chat mostly, the shops are subsidised with cheap business rates and free staff, the high steets are empty of normal shops, that are being priced out.

The fabric of communities is being decimated, and then refabricated with nonensical projects. The libraries do so much for the lonely, they are under threat, rural buses have been cut, old fashioned youth clubs for young people replaced by expensive juggernaughts like Kids Company......there are some things that we have to hang on to, like High Streets and corner shops and milkmen. We are funding the artificial, when the natural networks are starved out of being.

I am fortunate that I am able to get out and about, but I still miss chit chat with one friend and we keep in touch with Whatsapp and email. Both of us have had tough times and we find just a chit chat keeps us going. Sometimes it can be just a few sentences other times it can be a huge email! My husband doesn't know what we find to talk about!

Same here, oldwoman. Plus in a rural area.

Lyndie that has been my experience too! I don't have children and find that excludes me from many groups as conversations tend to be mainly about the achievements of grandchildren.

Gabri, I don't think it's inane to chat to strangers; it shows friendliness and makes a connection however small and fleeting. It can make a big difference in a lonely persons life.