I was surprised at how modern many of the themes in both Keep The Aspidistra Flying and Coming Up For Air are, from (in Keep The Aspidistra Flying) the negative effects of commercialisation and mass advertising, obsession with (because of a dependence on) money, difficulties making ends meet when trying to follow your dreams, the alternative of meaningless but well paying jobs, to (in Coming Up For Air) a reaction against property development and what you might even call environmentalism.

The book shop that Orwell worked in and lived above when he wrote Keep The Aspidistra Flying is now split between a fancy bakery and a hairdresser. I get my hair cut at the hairdresser.