The Planner by Tom Campbell

The Planner

Tom Campbell

Town planner James is plodding along in his London job but when he is offered a better job in his native Nottingham he realises he has not sampled much of what the capital has to offer. What follows is a tour of private clubs, art galleries, executive boxes, book launches, drug dealers and exotic women. Funny, touching and cynical all at the same time this is not the London seen by tourists and shows that very little about London is planned!

Extract
James stared down at his plate. It was a Silk Road fusion restaurant, with dishes originating from Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, Armenia and a number of other countries he was unlikely ever to visit. In the face of such a range, it was almost inevitable that he would choose poorly, and he was now facing a pretentious, unpalatable mess. James's semiotic analaysis bordered on the dysfunctionally superstitious. Was his dinner a symbol of globalisation? Or did it represent more personal failings? He looked across the table- Adam had chosen some crisp and attractive spinach pancakes and Carl was oafishly enjoying his skewed kebab and chips. Christ, he thought, it never used to be like this. When did enjoying oneself become such terribly hard work.?
Parallels
  • London Fields by Martin Amis
  • London by Edward Rutherfurd