they passed through an area of monolithic housing developments that could have been utterly deserted for all the signs of life they showed ( no , she corrected herself to vetter and farnham in the small white room ; she had seen one small boy sitting on the curb , striking matches ) , then an area of small , rather tatty-looking shops and fruit stalls , and then no wonder driving in london was so disorienting to out-of-towners they seemed to have driven smack into the fashionable section again .