For myself, I understand why you might not want catters stepping in, I most certainly wouldn't after the Countess Richard episode last spring. But on the other hand, that is almost certainly unfair to many of the community, and one of them saved her life the first time she had a crisis. But because her friends kept too great a distance, they weren't there for her at the end.
There's a difference between village life in Wales, where neighbours think nothing of sticking their heads in the back door for a chat, and London, where that's most unlikely. You need someone other than your flatmate to chat to, though, and so perhaps it might be useful to ask around for someone to stop past once in a while. The local church is usually quite ready to help, used to be this kind of thing was thought of as what the vicar does, but these days it can be anyone. You might make all the difference to someone else a bit isolated too. Or any other group.