LOL! I think I know what you mean.
I was telling Flashy earlier though it was also the neighbours. I lived in a block of flats on Bairstow street and going out of the property would often meet other people from the flats on the stairs and would often try to exchange pleasantries with a polite "morning" which was always met with silence and a frown.
On the street exactly the same. In town everyone just sooo busy, ignorantly knocking into you and not apologising.
Sorry, but politeness doesn't cost a thing.