London: Crowded with lonely people Each in their own city I lived in London for many years, in a variety of places; and one thing I found everywhere was that when people are all squeezed in together, they try harder to ignore one another. I could be on busy trains, or living in high rise buildings, but all the people around me were so busy trying to ignore the crush of people around them, that actually breaking through the barrier to start a conversation was nearly impossible. If you try, they think you're trying to sell them something.