Dear LPG,

I think that winter is the time when, as we get a bit older, we find it more difficult to get beyond the front door, out of the house, and after Christmas we find ourselves working our way through the ’anticipation months’.  That is the name that I give to the months of January and February when it’s usually really cold, wet, icy and dark for most of the time. 

I know so many people who, if they can get to the local shop in the middle of the day, tackle that task without even managing to say hello to any of the people around them except the person who muttered something when they got to the checkout.

I think that I have read this message somewhere on your pages before but I strongly believe that it needs repeating; I would like to remind the readers of this site, and indeed all the members of the British public that while the weather is not always positive it costs nothing to smile.

Have you ever had the experience where you pass a person in the street that is familiar even though you can’t name them.  Perhaps it is the way they smile or pout that reminds you of something you remember someone around you doing years ago.  Somewhere in the back of your mind there is a hazy image of a person you worked with back in the day or an old class mate. 

It is so easy to think about it and then pass them by without saying a word instead of saying something like, ‘I am sorry to bother you but I recognise you from somewhere in my distant past’.  It is as good a way of starting a conversation as mentioning the weather, and the worst that can happen is that you were mistaken.  Even the mistake may be a conversation opener.

I think, as a nation, the British miss so many opportunities to connect with the people around them, and perhaps it is because we have this preoccupation with worrying about what others will think of us.

As we get older we all have a tendency to lose our friends more regularly, and friends and acquaintances are perhaps amongst the most important possessions that anyone can have, so can I suggest that we all take just a little more time to connect with the people around us.  The odd time that you do make a connection in this way will not only benefit you, but it is also likely to be good for the person who you connect with.   

I know that it does not happen every day and I am not suggesting that we all take a complete stranger into our homes the first time we meet them, but that ‘out of the blue enquiry’ could be a reason to meet up, go to a café and have a cup of tea and a chat…

TS, Erith