Returning to London after being away for an entire year in Scotland, quite excited and happy to be home (if I may call it that) but to my surprise I found myself lost!

The power of twelve calendar months. Starting with our beloved underground and the new top-up Oyster card, I was left reading leaflets and asking news agents how to use it.

Then, finally boarding the train only to be unceremoniously squished between randoms, the population of London apparently having doubled during my absence.

Whenever I remembered London I always recalled the friendly, multicultural people and the smiling faces of every kind. Now however, it seems like everyone has been reaching for the anti-anti depressant pill in the morning before leaving the house.

Serious faces, either angry or expressionless and heaven forbids you smile at an unfamiliar face; they either think you want something of them and run away, or they try and chat you up! This got me thinking.

Watching the ITV Test the Nation recently, the television channel drafted in actors to behave as if they were in hardship in public places and see if anyone helps them. Well, surprise surprise hardly anyone seemed to be bothered to stop and help, or at least enquire of what was going on. When asked, most people simply offhandedly dismissed their apparent lack of compassion, claiming it was none of their business.

On a London train, I personally saw a man get stuck in the train doors. Not a sole attempted to help him. Frankly, we all know (and implicitly accept) that this world is all about survival of the fittest, but social Darwinism appears to have been let loose with crippling consequences. Whatever happened to goodness of heart? Empathy? Compassion?

We cannot live solely for ourselves. In a society flooded with individualism, in choice and reward alike, it seems that people are now afraid to interact on a trusting personal level.

Returning to the events of 7th July 2005, a single event which single-handedly built fear into the hearts of those living, working and visiting the capital as if it were an innate reaction, over and above the common humanity which seems to be so lacking in contemporary society.

The bombings may have triggered the change in people. However, an ongoing state of tension, fear and sore lack of expressed emotion must surely bear a shelf life. How long can we continue in such a state?

If anything, I believe that we should be more united and work together to fight whatever is injecting this epic unease into our lives. If anyone out there feels the same way as I do then why not actually honour the next call for change? Next time I am driving I will give way to people, I will smile at the newsagents and I bid thank you for the free London papers!

Little by little, we could make the change. To quote the Mayor, there are seven million Londoners, but only one London.