Small talk? I’m certainly not good at it, not good at it at all. For a person who used to have the gift of gab I realize that gift was almost exclusively geared towards my interest, specific topics of interest. A good book or rather books, film, theatre & the arts have enchanted me from childhood to adulthood. Small talk, outside of standard greetings always seem strained, awkward. I guess you can say they’re uncomfortable particularly when you don’t know the person, but you want to and need to be polite. Perhaps the pretense of it all is what makes it so small.