Just had beers with my wife and a complete stranger. She was nice, but I was not in an n overly talkative mood.

Just asked her about herself regularly, and happily listened to her talk about herself.

Turns out she’s quite interesting. We both agreed we’d like to meet her for beers again.

But. Where you from? How’d you end up living here? Family nearby? Miss them? See them often? Your dad does WHAT for a living? We had a similar pet, does yours do X? Think you’ll stay here, or considering another area to live? So you’re not getting on well with your sister? I can understand that, what else have you tried?

Etc etc etc. All about them, but can be genuinely interesting.