Well this is awkward...

Awkward silences are the funniest things.

You know the situation: -fuck, I have nothing to say and we haven't even finished our soup, I knew we shouldn't have had a starter!-

I don't often experience them, so I'm probably not one to judge, since I tend to find gaps in conversation companionable as I'm thinking about other things. What is funny is seeing how other people deal with them.

There's Gemma's tactic: the slightest lull in conversation warrants an 'AWKWARD SILENCE'. Although I often make fun of her for it, and the fact that it does break a societal law which states that an illusion of best-friend-liness must exist between all people at all times, unless publicly acknowledged deepest of enemies, it does give everyone something to talk about. Even if that is just how stupid it is to say it.

The more commonly employed technique is to look intently at something below eye level. This gives the impression that you are deep in thought but still allows the other person to recognise that you have nothing to say. If you were to look up thoughtfully (whoa! wild behaviour) it looks like you might actually be thinking about something.

'What are you thinking about?'

-SHIT. I have nothing to say- 'Oh... er... Dinosaurs'

'What?'

-Yeah, I know, why did I say that?- 'I was just er, thinking about how er, amazing it is that a pterodactyls wingspan was a mile long.'

'Oh. That's not even true is it?'

'Um. No. I don't think it is.'

'Right.'