Etiquette of everyday life.

Something happened today that FIRSTLY got me awfully worked up and to be honest it left me a bit shocked about human behaviour....and SECONDLY, thinking about manners in general. And kind of 'expected codes' of courtesy. Being a sociology student also, this is kinda second nature to me, to think about things in this sort of way, how people generally believe they should communicate with others and also how they communicate with blatant strangers.
My question to you is how polite are you? I happen to be one of those people who try and go out of my way to be polite, let people go by me if their isn't enough room, always say 'thank you' if someone is polite to me...but what happens when someones rude? I can't even express how it makes me feel. Basically, an older lady with her husband were sitting on a train, this lady has her bag on the chair next to her...now there isn't a hell of a lot of room on said train and I have 2 big bags and I'm feeling kinda wobbly. I say 'excuse me...' wanting her to move her bag, or at least usually this will warrant some sort of reaction. MOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD WILL AT LEAST RESPOND TO THE BLOODY POLITE GESTURE OF EXCUSE ME. Right? Wrong.
Now, I have the inherited trait of temper. When pushed to my limit, may I add. I'm usually quite shy I suppose but I swore in dumbfounded shock if I'm honest.

This situation got me thinking however. Have you ever done something rude without really thinking about it? We live in a little country really, and typical british manners and common decency tend to go along way here in the great britannia in which we live. Of course some people are actual arrogant and/or ignorant idiots who really don't care about anyone but themselves? But surely this is not a way to live your life. In my opinion it is healthier to be a nice person, to smile at strangers, to hold the door open for someone just for the hell of it, and why shouldn't we do things like this everyday without even thinking about it? It isn't such a big deal to be friendly to someone you've never met and will likely never meet again, but if everyone in the world acts with rudeness and distain then that will get us nowhere. What pisses me off the most is that the youths of this country are labelled constantly as deviant, with no respect for their elders, but as I have witnessed today, the elders often have very little respect either- perhaps they should remember in future, the 'older generations' and the of course the ever present negative media- who actually raised these youths with no respect....?