Does anyone else feel stressed at how busy/overcrowded everything is all the time?

I can confirm that lots of North Yorkshire fits the bill too. The most common number of people I see when out for a run on the moors is zero. When I go back to visit my parents down south I am struck by how busy everywhere is though so I do get it. It used to be a bit of a backwater when I was growing up but these days it's considered London commuter territory so the towns have all greatly increased in size and it seems you're never more than six feet from an aggressive stressed out cretin. I've never been great with busy places so I couldn't live there now (and lots of city slickers would die of boredom living where I do).

I also hate it. Too many people.
The worst is having to go on holidays in school holidays. We literally do nothing on BH.

Driving to devon we dont go on weekends.

Theme parks. We got there on opening time and were in overflow parking.
By the time we got in first ride q it was 35min wait already.

Our area traffic is awful and yet the city is set to grow hugely. The schools have doubled!

My particular hatred is how our school is 2 firm entry and does everything together so any play they did had 120 parents and relatives and it was pointkess you couldnt see and all kids had to stand still. The xmas show is whole of key stage - cant see.a thing.

Yes.

Most American states have much lower populations to equal space in comparison, we're a very overpopulated country. Losing green spaces constantly is not helping either, there's no escape.

More people WFH so can do things locally in their lunch hours? Or around their working day

Think of how many used to be on the commute and then in offices/business districts full time.

Plus schools are on exam leave
Uni students coming home for summer

The explosion of dog ownership

Closure of local high streets do more people in cars travelling further just to do normal errands
Closure of places obviously pushes everyone into what remains open.

It’s not surprising, and can’t see much changing.

Life in general is much busier. There’s not as much physical or mental space. I think people are craving a more analogue life as a result.

Indeed.

The overcrowding and the constant noise is one of the main reasons why I left London and moved to a small seaside town.

I notice everyday how people are less stressed, friendlier and frankly happier than in London.

I don't think all the rushing around and constant over-stimulation is healthy in the long run.

I’m the same as you OP. I tend to stay at home as often as I can. Never happier than when away from crowds

I live in South London and travel to central London on public transport most days.

I hate crowded environments and avoid them whenever possible and even living where I do I'd say I'm successful at this more than 85% of the time. I travel off peak, I'll walk down Wigmore St not Oxford St, I get buses not tubes when it's practical. Nothing would induce me to go into our local Tesco on a Saturday or Sunday. I've given up driving because the roads are so busy.

We don't go out as much as we used to. No shops at the weekend, no coastal areas unless it's the colder weather.

3 million? There are more people than that in Ireland, where it is a lot smaller and the population numbers were ravaged by famine and large scale emmigration.

This is why I love it when it rains. Less people.

I don’t have this experience. I live in central London in zone 1, and I find it quite easy to avoid crowds. I get a seat on the tube most mornings, I’m only going a couple of stops so I usually stand. I often have lunch in a quiet park. When I walk home, I avoid London Bridge and the millennium Bridge and cross at Blackfriars Bridge which is much quieter and then take the backstreets home. I do adjust my day so that I can avoid crowds, but it’s not difficult. I go to Borough Market at 10 o’clock every Saturday morning and it’s quiet enough, and I don’t have to queue for anything. Ditto the supermarkets.

Too many people on a little island. This is what happens when have 70 million is it now?

Crazy numbers.

And before anyone starts.... I'm not being political. 🙄

I live in a town in north east Scotland and every time I go to the south of England I cannot cope with how busy it is. I assume you get used to it but maybe not!

I'm the same, OP. It is one of the reasons why I wanted to move far away from where I grew up (a village that is being swallowed up by a nearby town because the town is having to spread out to keep up with housing demand)... and one of the reasons that I rarely go back. If I go, my dogs are walked very early in the morning or late at night.

I now live rurally. I work nearby. If I need to pop into town, it's again early in the morning or after 7pm when it's quiet (and in the evenings, you get a lot of reductions).

I went away to somewhere even more remote. If I could move there, I would, and I would try to avoid ever leaving! (I got off the plane, went to the nearest town to a car hire, and wondered if it was too late to turn back).

Northumberland is your answer. North Northumberland.

Yup, had to go to a health centre today for an x-ray. Car park absolutely rammed, so had to park on a residential street and hobble there. Inside, long queue for reception, hiddeously crowded waiting room, long wait for the x-ray, long queue for the loo, and everything was also so noisy - lots of people everywhere all talking loudly and radio blaring from the x-ray reception. Needed a lie down in a darkened room when I finally got home, after the journey back taking a long time due to traffic everywhere, traffic lights, road works, etc.

That was after going with DH to his oncology appointment last week, where we had to stand for 90 minutes in the waiting room which was rammed with cancer patients all waiting for consultations/appointments/treatments, with only the most seriously ill patients getting the chance of a seat.

I don't think it's all down to more people, though the population increase inevitably has an impact, it's also down to poor organisation, poor planning/layout etc where no thought seems to be given to the poor sods suffering being crowded, often unnecessarily, in pretty small spaces.

This country is vastly overpopulated. The population should only be approx 3 million.

I've always had a day off in the week and now, say compared to 10 or 20 years ago I feel it is much busier, where I go anyway.

Supermarket for example, unless you go at 8 am or after 7 pm in the week, the car park will be full. I've noticed this moreso in the last 5 years to so.

I guess it could be that we are an aging society with more and more retired people, and obviously people living longer. Where I live the population demographics do skew on the older side.

Yes it’s very busy

i noticed it was quieter on roads when schools are off

Yes totally.

Even taking into account that over the last 10 years or so i've become extra sensitive to noise and crowds, i'm sure everything and everywhere is busier than 'before'.

Before when i don't know.

Whereas once you used to guaranteed a parking place for example, now you're cruising for ages. And then loads of rude pushy people. It's made me almost reclusive! I time outings to avoid crowded times and even those outings are very local.

When we go away on holls (uk) and it's going to be a sunny day, we are up at stupid o'clock and on the beach before most other holiday makers have even thought about a bacon sandwich. And we're off the beach at midday when the main crush is arriving.

I like the peace of home.