to be fed up at people saying to me 'nice weather, isn't it' all the time?

[pointydog]

Why do people keep saying this to me? It is most annoying.

It was probably the italian accent . Or just that I found the weather almost always crap . I sounded "spoiled"

Traffic sounds full of possibilities though. You could say 'I think we need more cars on the roads' and 'every child under 5 should be given a Vespa to ride in public areas' just for fun.

I'd begin to wilt if people discussed roundabouts though.

yeah, everyone was thinking 'fuck off to sunny italy then and let us wallow'

I went through a stage of discussing roundabouts a lot. A couple of new roundabouts were built near me. Twice I came across someone driving round it the wrong way.

Actually, a lot of my demanding chit chat is traffic-related. New greenways, new traffic lights, tram system. I can chit chat to stranger about them in a most definite hostile fashion.

Poor Franca. They thought you didn't 'understand'. If my bakery woman came to Milan she'd stand on street corners and stop traffic and shout at everyone 'HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU LOT HERE IS IT?'

Exactly pointy

It does, doesn't it? However "I think we need more cars on the roads" would win me nods of approvement here

Me too pointy. I've been trying to chit chat with the traffic warden (who usually chats with the petrol station man, instead of regulating the traffic) nr ds's school for months now. He ignores me. I thank him whenever he let us cross the road... ah the joys of Italy

I think people you chit chat with when they are doing their job and you are not, and when they are being hostile, are thinking 'snooty cow'. I do. Or they are thinking 'daft mare'.

A photograph assistant in teh supermarket was so damn cheeky to me the other day. He was deff thinking, 'daft mare'. I gave him the silent treatment because he was being subtley antagonistic by pretending to be very jolly and chatty. See what I was doing there?

I don't understand the story of why there was a photography assistant being cheeky in a supermarket? Was he a cheeky chappy? I fucking loath them, I get glint in my eye and come over all steely and humourless when faced with a cheeky chappy.

I make small talk with anyone I can find. Dog walkers excellent fodder. Milkman not bad either, he's called Andrew, he kept delivering our milk later and later until one morning I said could he come a bit earlier. And he said he was sorry but he was having trouble getting up in the mornings. We always talk now, he lingers, we talk A LOT about getting up in the mornings.

I don't make small talk with people in uniforms though. Not ever.

I was in negotiation with the photography assistant, asking for my photos. But I had forgotten to hand in the slip (you know when you order them yourself on teh puter) so he made a big song and dance about how I hadn't done it right and how hard it would be to trace my photos. As if he was talking to an idiot. It was that sort of jollity. I didn't respond. He wanted some sort of simpering smiley response.

I am soun ding mad now

Oh yes, I see. Calm silence, slight raising of one eyebow, steady stare = one of the great advantages of mature womanhood in my opinion. You did good.

Has it been nice then? What a lovely change for you all. Does it look like it might hold all week?

It's quite hot here with a touch of the pre rainy season winds in the afternoon.

Small talk, it's so very british I do miss it. I have tried it with the odd Kenyan or two but they mostly look at me as if I'm quite odd. I say 'gosh it's hot today' and their look says 'yes that's because it's the HOT season you idiot white woman'.

I'm pathologically chatty, I love the sort of small talk that can be swiftly steered into more disturbing topic areas

Mitchy, you need to come on my dog walks. This is exactly what we do. Is wonderful - firstly you do breed, then gender, then before you know it you're on to castration and biting the neighbours, irrational fears and penis licking.

yes, there's nothing like a pair of unruly labs sniffing your crotch to bring out the best in you

I am not overly keen on small talk. At times I might even prefer dogs sniffing my crotch

[Pointy's lack of small talk brings thread to awkward close]

yes, I wish it didn't have to end with dogs sniffing. Unsavoury.

Okay, erm

Nice weather, isn't it?

lol pointy...

bit blowy outside, actually

those roundabouts needed a bit of wind though, actually I've been meaning to ask you, what do you think about that new roundabout traffic calming system they've introduced?

none of that on my roundabouts. They make them three lanes here so the boy-racers can overtake you mid-roundabout

I have perfected meaningless small talk. But I do have accurate non-small-talker radar. So I wouldn't try it on you pointy. I would just edge away and find a nice amenable old man.

I am finding the idea of hostile edgy small talk quite alarming. Small talk with an agenda!

Dh can't do it. Which he sits at certain gatherings with a face like a smacked arse, and I don't. He is pathologically incapable. He does try sometimes. But it never works. Like a grizzly bear trying to be cuddly.

I dont mind so much re weather small talk. What does piss me off though are strangers who pass me in the street and say "chee up- it might never happen"!!! WTF Its always men who say it and it happens a lot. I can't help it if my mouth has a slight natural downturn...bastards!!