'I've shied away from Iain Sinclair for along time, as I read something of his (Downriver?) that I remembered as being impenetrable, full of mysticism, strange leaps of logics and long words I didn't understand. There's a germ of truth in all of that, but I wonder if I may have confused Sinclair with Iain Nairn and/or Will Self, as London Orbital was a great read, really enjoyable and with much more bonhomie than I was expecting. I'd love to go walking in the company of Iain Sinclair, which was not my recollection at all. Maybe I've changed. Maybe the concept of psychogeography has seeped into me as I've learnt to walk and think and appreciate my surroundings. It helped that I'm so familiar with many of the areas he explores, having lived my whole life within a few miles of the M25 (or the future location of the M25 until it was constructed), always between the M4 and the A3 junctions. It was thrilling to read his thoughtful description and musings on the future of doomed Harmondsworth, on the Runnymede bridge and the Siebel offices, and excursions to Royal Holloway College. He was walking through my life
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