Being friendly on holiday

peggypig

Silver Member
Im ashamed to say this but I feel more comfortable saying Good Morning and smiling at people on holiday than I do at home, just thought about this how sad is that.

I live in a large town and generally people ignore one another maybe its to do with felling stressed at home and always hurried .

I have family who live in a small Yorkshire town and people smile at you and say hello at 1st I thought they were talking to someone else.


Well I hope Ive not come across as totally ignorant. Its probably town and city life.Or do we tend to keep to ourselves.
 
I think it depends to some degree where you live. For example, I have family up in Fort William, which is a Highland town, its not super-tinysmall, but everyone knows everyone else, and so it's really friendly up there.

Where I live is also a small town, smaller than Fort William by miles, but the only people I really talk to are a couple of mums at the school who are my daughters friends parents, and Im on vague chatting terms with the people in the local shops. Other than that I wouldnt have a clue who anyone was!
 
and here in a friendly Latin country everyone says "hola"
 
My BF lives up north, when he comes down here he smiles and says hello to everyone. I keep telling him the men in white coats will come and take him away! No-one does it round here. Unless dog walking. For some reason that's different
 
Definitely location, location, location.
I'm with fillymum, here is Spain I can't go out of my front door and down to the shop in our small village without at least a dozen hola's or buenas'.
I also come from a large town "up't North" and in our suberb everyone said hello to each, but that was in the 60's and 70's so it's probably very different now. I agree with mumtheshopper - when I worked in London people gave me funny looks when I said hello or good morning, and I spent a long time expecting the men in white coats to take me away" LOL.

But taking a different, slightly more serious tack, I stopped saying hello to people when I put all my weight on as I didn't really want to be noticed. Now it's coming off again there's no stopping me!

Go for it, just say hello and smile - you will be surprised at how many will smile back. The ones that say nowt? Ignore them and feel sorry for them.
 
hiyer, def on where you live, when we lived in eire, county claire, everyone said good morning/afternoon as they passed. When we did it when we came home, we got looked at, but, if i'm out with the dog, a lot more people will smile snd stop and talk:D
 
A dog is always a great conversation starter! In fact, my first german shepherd was my most effective man-magnet before I met OH 6 years ago!!!
 
I have moved to a smaller town just outside of Birmingham - and its a lot nicer here than when i lived centrally.

i have nice neighbours who are always up for a gossip - and my next door neighbour has now joined SW. Not sure if thats my motivation, or just something she was going to do anyway! :) x
 
Definitely to do with where you live. I live in the South East, and commute into London - neither is a very friendly place. For example, I tripped and properly fell in the street in London and not one person checked I was okay (in the middle of rush hour so not exactly a quiet time on the streets) until a tourist helped me up.
Compare this to where my mum lives in Bradford - people are forever talking to each other in the street. In fact I vividly remember her telling anyone who would listen in Morrisons when my sister has her 2nd child and everyone asking to see photos etc. She would have been escorted out by security if she tried that here!
 
Ive just moved up from London (well 6months ago!) to Milton Keynes, and its a lot friendlier here. I go running 2-3 times per week, and always get a good morning or hello from other runners / dog walkers that I pass.
At first (being in my London -ignore all frame of mind!), I was a bit like huh, but now I smile and say hello too :)
 
Ive just moved up from London (well 6months ago!) to Milton Keynes, and its a lot friendlier here.

That's good to know - I will hopefully be moving down to that neck of the woods for work, and one of the reasons I'm reluctant is because I've got it in my head that it'll be full of miserable southerners..!!

I agree completely about those who've mentioned dog walking - literally two minutes from where I live there's a really nice walk by a stream, very popular with joggers and dog walkers. Whenever I've been down there dog walking, everyone is more than happy to say hello and start chatting away. However, if you go down for a walk without a dog, it's as if people are wondering what the heck you're doing there - all of a sudden they get suspicious and give you some very odd looks if you speak to them!
 
That's good to know - I will hopefully be moving down to that neck of the woods for work, and one of the reasons I'm reluctant is because I've got it in my head that it'll be full of miserable southerners..!! QUOTE]

Yes - considering its only 60 miles out, its very different. Where are you moving to?
I also moved for work! x
 
Yes - considering its only 60 miles out, its very different. Where are you moving to?
I also moved for work! x

Well, I say for work - it's actually for OH's work. I'm in the process of looking for a job at the moment and then we'll be moving somewhere between his work and mine, all being well. So could be MK or anywhere around and about :)
 
Good luck with it - if you need any pointers on areas around MK, then drop me a note. I'd be happy to help :)
 
I'd say it's definitely based on where you live I live in a smallish village on the outskirts of Bradford and walking through the village takes an extra five minutes (ten if I have the girls with me) for stopping and chatting and saying hello to people.
 
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