The impersonal casual encounters of a New Yorker.

I am a huge fan of Neil Gaiman and I am in the middle of reading his book Neverwhere. It is positively amazing; has really made me take a look at the people here in the city. Its never ceases to surprise me how New Yorkers just become numb to everything around them. I'd say the city eats your soul in about a week give or take. And once your soul has been devoured leaving a mindless husk, you are truly a New Yorker. (Not to say that all New Yorkers are soul-less, but you understand what I'm saying). Its like an initiation to the big daunting city.
I ride the subways and people barely pay enough attention to avoid crashing into one another. It's a wonder more pedestrian accidents don't happen. But I too am lost; the mindless thumping pulse of the city has consumed me. I don't think I even felt it happen. But for this brief moment of reprieve I can see the city as it truly is. We are so self centered we don't even notice what is going on around us. In close quarters, neatly packaged like sardines in a tin, we are completely unawares of the other people even though we feel their hot breath on the back of our necks. Its a little like a one night stand, a new person every night, never even remembering their faces. When you are that submerged in someone else's personal space shouldn't you know their name? Nonsense its the way of the land, how silly of me...