Forum Topic

Chatting to new people on the buses & at bus srops

Being a bit of an old git these days,I find walking and "talking to strangers" such a delight.Sometimes I can speak with 5 or morenew people a day in Brentford and around.Several Ukrainians and Polish people come to mind. At Brent Lea yesterdayI spoke to a lady who had been at the Holiday Inn for a conference. She was on her way to Boston Manor Station and onwards to Kings Cross and Yorkshire.She had recently returned from a one year assignment on Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic and prior to that 4 years on the Falkland Islands."Where you in the Services"?" No I worked for the UK Goverment"Then my bus arrived. Not hers!On buses I chat to 90 years olds whorarely engage in conversations.(they say)Speaking to a Russian student at a W6 cafe was interesting too.So if you CAN get out and about (not in a car!) enjoy walking and talking.It's good for your mind ... and theirs perhaps.Any similar experiences?

Jim Lawes ● 366d27 Comments

The interesting chats continue!Returning from the Shepherds Bush area the other day on a 237 bus to Brentford ...I found myself sitting next to an African looking lady who was petite,very well dressed and presented and may have been in her 60s.She was very easy to chat with ...but I can't remember how the conversation started.She was Sudanese ... that huge African country frought with troubles and unrest.She was surprised when I mentionedKhartoum ... and even more so when I said my father had been born there in year 1910!Brits were out there helping to built their railways so my grandparents had obviously settled there for a while.The lovely lady mentioned that her family were ambassadorial people in London and elsewhere.The lady was laden with shopping in M&S bags. Not local branches ... but the top notch one in Oxford Street ... which apparently stocks everything.I returned home and couldn't remember what I was suppose to be worrying about. Such are the mental diversions when jumping on a bus!

Jim Lawes ● 173d

Keep going, Jim.

Susan Kelly ● 186d

Hi Susan.With with Russian lady it was a case of whispering quietly "I'm getting off at the next stop" She replied "so am I" with an east european accent.I asked if she was Polish ...(I know a few useful phrases) ... but she said "I am Russian"The bus was making slow progress and there was time to chat about Vladivostok (!), the Russian Art scene in London in times gone by ...(Roy Miles Gallery etc)... and London's once russian flavoured restaurants like "Borshtch't Tears.I was told off at infant School for talking too much ... but it has been an asset in my long life (not a shortcoming!).85 and still chatting away!

Jim Lawes ● 187d

I often spark up a conversation on a bus.

Keith Iddon ● 187d

How do you start these conversations, Jim? Do you just say 'Good morning' and let them run with it?Do you often get cold-shouldered?

Susan Kelly ● 187d

I am glad you had such a rewarding day. As you say you always meet interesting people!

Nicholas Beard ● 187d

I had felt a little glum earlier yesterday (Tuesday) over a few matters ... but after a visit to my new GPs practice (brentford family),a coffee and snack at that Great West Quarter cafe,making my first visit to the Dry Cleaners there ...I decided to jump on the 65 bus to Richmond. Somewhere along the Kew Road ...a middle-aged lady jumped on the bus and sat next to me. She was Russian (!) and originally came from St Petersburg. We spoke about Russian Art and Classical Music before we parted at Richmond Station. I should have got her phone number!I then made my first visit to Waitrose in Richmond. Wow! Most impressive and huge selections of all things grocery and more. (won't need to go to the Twickenham or Chiswick branches from now on.Jumping on the 65 back to BrentfordI found myself in conversation with a youngish Italian lady ... we chatted all the way back to the Waterman's bus stop.I returned home ... having "walked and talked" well and declared myself recovered ... and that feels great.So walk and talk if you can...it's good for you!

Jim Lawes ● 188d

Well done Eric (Mr Chattyman !)"you help the world go round" as some would say.I was waiting for a bus to Brentford at Isleworth Station last night at about 10pm.Just me there ... but then a young man joined me at the bus stop.He was carrying a tall thin "bag"I thought ... snooker / billiards ?I enquired whether he had been fishing!He was charming and listening to his accent I asked him his language.Bengali he replied ...(ie Bangladeshi.)I hadn't spoken to a Bangladeshi before and after enquiring "Dacca"he replied "no that's where the rich live with their skyscraper buildings"He came from the countryside.Isn't there fighting going on ...intrusions from neighbouring countries?"No,the fighting is between thePolitical Parties. There is a dodgy PM" !The young chap was a "champion"STICK FIGHTER ... hence the bag. My bus then arrived.It's good to walk at talk.

Jim Lawes ● 237d

What a wonderful forum topic, all about being friendly to strangers. My wife calls me Mr Chattyman and I love living in such a diverse area and talking to so many different people. After a childhood in Brunei, Holland and Venezuela, later Iran, I was always really puzzled about racial prejudice. After all, most of us came out of Africa together, black until the now paler of us adapted to more Northern climes. I only know a few words of Farsi and Turkish but am OK with French and can understand some Spanish and Italian. But it's my wife who excels at becoming eloquent in French or Spanish when with a group with little English.

Eric Baker ● 237d

Tomorrow I plan to visit Halina's in Acton Lane. They do laundry for me.But they are best known for dry cleaning and dressmaking alterations.The shop is full of Polish ladies working on their sewing machines and more. It's an opportunity to show off a few Polish  words ... which they find funny. But I need to learn a few more phrases.How about:"would you care for a Gdansk?"

Jim Lawes ● 244d

There were 3 ladies waiting at the bus stop on the Great West Road today.I said to the nearest one, who was checking her phone, (probably the live bus waiting times ... as people do. I said "5 minutes?" "No english she replied ...me Polski"I replied in Polish "Gin Dob Brie, Yak,  Shim, Marsh" She was astonished. The next lady was from Pakistan and she spoke English with difficulty.  I asked her about Baluchistan (where I used to trade in kaftans in the early 70s. She was impressed with my Pakistani knowledge.  She spoke Urdu.The 3rd person ... I sat next to her. She spoke good  English and was dressed in a long islamic gown. I enquired about her homeland. "Kenya" she replied.(that wss a surprise)I said "Nairobi?" No ... Mombassa she said.(That's where my daughter spent her honeymoon!)"Do you speak Swahili I replied."Yes" she said with a smile.It was an enjoyable bus ride with the three of them. Maybe it made each of us..our day.  Life in London may be challenging but it certainly  can be engaging and fun! How many languages spoken in the Borough? 200? I've some learning to do!

Jim Lawes ● 244d

I agree. When I first came to London over 50 years ago I was amazed by the way people ignored each other. It was much more friendly in the North Est where I grew up, though people from Liverpool though we in the suburbs were unfriendly.

Guy Lambert ● 307d

I think it also helps in a small way to make cities work.

Keith Iddon ● 308d

If only one of the many people who pass my home while I am tending my roses or washing my car responds to my friendly "hello" then I have achieved something. Many just walk on and wonder who the nutcase was others smile and others are happy to stop for a brief chat.

N V Brooks ● 308d

I am sure there are many people in London who are isolated from contact with others on a daily basis.Having a chat with someone is important,however inconsequential that chat may be.The society of others an all that.

Keith Iddon ● 308d

People who don't live in London insist that it's an unfriendly place where nobody knows their neighbours and they are simply wrong.

Susan Kelly ● 308d

Similarly I was helping at the Brentford Canal Festival yesterday and met so very many delightful, friendly folk. It truly is good to talk.

Anne Rowe ● 309d

All wonderful stories in this thread.  Thanks for sharing.

Steve Taylor ● 322d

Great story Deborah.Some years back I popped into Richmondand wandered up and down the fascinating alleyways. I saw a shop called 'Proctors' selling menswear.I popped in ...engaged in chat with the Proprietor ... it was the semi notorious Harvey Proctor an ex-MP.After a second visit and more chatting he said he was soon to open another shop in a Knightsbridge Arcade and he invited me to the Opening Night.It was quite crowded and I found myself standing next to a colourfully dressed lady. She said "I'm Cynthia Paynee" (of sexy Sunday Afternoon Teaparty fame ... aimed at elderly gentlemen.For once I was lost for words!

Jim Lawes ● 360d

I was discussing this very subject with a young woman at a dinner a few years ago. She was studying issues around fertility in Nottingham. On the train up, she told me how she’d got chatting to ‘this old guy’. He turned out to be Prof Lord Robert Winston, the pioneering expert behind the world’s first test tube baby. By the end of the journey, he’d offered to fund her research project.

Deborah Hall ● 360d

Just goes to show that we are a friendly bunch in the South. I often chat to people on the bus.

Pat Kingham ● 365d

Isn't this nice? It's what we all need - human interaction - and it's what we are in danger of losing with all the reliance on blasted machines.

Vanessa Smith ● 365d

One of the 'highlights' of visiting my wife in Ealing hospital (now at home recovering afetr an emergency appendectomy) was the chance to use my poor Flemish to two nurses from the Central Afican Republic and my somewhat better French to a great nurse from Senegal.Also had ample opportunity to use my one word of Tagalog (salamat - thanks) to any number of the wonderful Filipino staff.

N V Brooks ● 365d

Good work, Jim. More people should be willing to talk to strangers.

Susan Kelly ● 365d

Having my umpteenth bloòd test atWest Middlesex Hospital yesterday  ...I asked the male nurse what was his language.Hindi he said."Sucre" I replied before I left. (Sucre  = thank you in Hindi & Arabic)

Jim Lawes ● 366d

Hearing a lady standing next to me on the bus ... I detected a familiar accent as she spoke to her child."What is your language" I asked.Polish she said."Gin dob brie ... yak shim marsh"(Hello how are you) I replied.My fellow traveller was amused and delighted!

Jim Lawes ● 366d

Whilst in Richmond yesterday and taking a photo of the elegant Nat West Bank(Brentford's Branch being long missed I found myself speaking with two ladies from Australia!Not the usual Melbourne, Adelaide or Sydney folk ... by 10 hours inland from Perth ...in gold mining territory!On arrival at home ... one digs out the Australia Map and google. Gold galore.They said that Richmond was so friendly.

Jim Lawes ● 366d