I keep reading/hearing/seeing people talk about how society is falling apart. Nobody talks on the tube, nobody smiles in the street, nobody knows their neighbours or local shopkeeper. We’re each existing in our own bubble.

It’s rubbish. it’s one of those myths that’s spread over the years through lazy conversation, and we take it for granted. Maybe we did reach a low point in the ‘me’ era of the eighties, but things have changed and we’re communicating more than ever.

OK, so it’s taking different forms. Maybe we don’t know our neighbours as well as our grandparents did - communities are more fluid and we commute more. But the rise in social networks of all kinds has meant that we’re in new kinds of constantly evolving and overlapping communities. If we’ve got nothing in common with the people we meet we just keep moving. Communities build around shared interests or beliefs, and a stranger can become a ‘friend’ in an instant.

This has to rub off in everyday behaviour. As we gain confidence in talking to strangers look out for incidents in the real world. Last week I was walking along Crouch End High Street with my girlfriend and a guy stopped us, saying,

‘Have you seen my mate Abacus?’

‘No, sorry…’

He turned, as if to walk away.

‘You can never count on him.’