Gosh, what you said never occurred to me. Maybe I need to be a warm and friendly neighbor!
Are you going to start practicing on your neighbours? Rather than just do it for your W. That would be a 180 in this sitch. See how it feels? (I must admit, I am about as engaging as you with my neighbours, I like to keep myself to myself) I would be interested to hear how you get on if you do go down this route and also if it helps your future interactions with your W.
-- Me: 47 WW: 35 SS: 17 D: 5 T: 7 yrs Engaged: 2 yrs OEA confirmed: August 17 2016 ongoing since April 2016. OEA continues (with occasional breaks) BD2 - W says will visit OM in Jan 18