Silence is deafening

Its  a characteristic of our modern day society that the social fabric that used to hold disparate people together is gone.
We are naturally a collective species in the sense that we share our experiences with others around both giving and taking, part in communication with family and friends, people in the bus queue, people at work and so on. We take it for granted that there will be someone to talk to, someone who will listen and understand someone who comes from  the background from where our experience is gathered and the environment from which we draw our experience.
People are getting up this morning with no hope that anyone will ring or pop around to visit. They are house- bound and sad, unable to understand how their lives came to this impasse, totally unable to comprehend how after a lifetime of interaction they are now lonely and forgotten.
Esther Rantzen, a local TV celebrator has fastened her talent for publicity on the plight of the old. She has set up a Silver Line, a telephone contact for old people to speak to, a friendly voice when they feel the need.  
One can't turn back the clock and, with the dispersion of neighbourly contact, families spreading across the globe, people, who eventually disconnect from the workplace into retirement and are removed at a stroke to waking up with nowhere to go and no one to talk to. If coupled to that, they have lost a partner with whom the every day event is shared by a comment or an opinion even if not always complimentary then the silence is deafening.