Our Writer at Large Neil Mackay explains how after a life chasing extreme experiences and emotions, he has learned that it is the simplest things that bring joy, like small talk with strangers

My neighbour starting talking to me about drains the other day and I didn’t run away screaming. I listened. I replied. I didn’t think to myself "this is so boring I want to stab myself in the head". In fact, I told my wife that we had a "nice chat". Then I went for a walk and wondered what the hell is happening to me. What have I become?

Until recently, I considered myself someone with an exceptionally low boredom threshold and a visceral hatred of small talk. But that’s started to change. The side of me which constantly needs mental stimulation and refuses to engage with the mundane is in retreat and a more mellow version of me has appeared. I still consider this new arrival something of a stranger, but I quite like him if I’m honest. In past months, these are some of the conversations I’ve enjoyed most: whether men should wear long-legged, long-sleeved pyjamas; the joy of watching an urban fox from your window; what makes a great pie; and how nice it is cycling in the park in the early morning.

Yesterday, I had a long conversation with an acquaintance in Sainsbury’s about the shortage of cornichons and the consequences for the classic afternoon sandwich.

Some months back, I got chatting to the lady in the Post Office about The Archers. She’s a fan. I switch off the moment that "ump-dee-bump-dee-bump-dee-bom" music comes on Radio 4.

I wanted to know how people get into a soap opera that’s been running since 1951. How do you work out what’s going........

© Herald Scotland