The setting for this possibly over dramatic line of thought was the return journey from a weekend away. We had been to stay with some friends who we don't see very often. They are perfectly nice people and while I get on well with them, they're technically his friends not mine so there is not that shared history and camaraderie you have when it's your friends you are talking to. I found it really hard making conversation with people who are not complete strangers but whose day to day lives I am not hugely familiar with.
I'm fine with a 5 minute chat at school pick up time or the disjointed on - off talking while you are sitting on the sidelines during football practice. Relative strangers don't require much from a conversation. The weather is a trusty and perennial topic, especially in a country with weather patterns as changeable as this. I can easily pass the time of day with a stranger in a waiting room or the queue at the supermarket.
My stumbling block was more of the "so what have you been up to since I saw you last?" variety. When you see someone once, maybe twice a year, how could they possibly answer a question like that? How do you (without sounding weird) ask getting to know you questions when you kind of, sort of, already know them a bit? With some people a quick scan of their Facebook posts beforehand can provide useful conversation starting fodder. Alas, not everyone chooses to share the intricacies of their life online. Leaving me back at square one, over-thinking what I should say next.
