he continued , slowly , by a process of osmosis and white knowledge ( which is like white noise , only more useful ) , to comprehend the city , a process that accelerated when he realized that the actual city of london itself was no bigger than a square mile , stretching from aldgate in the east to fleet street and the law courts of the old bailey in the west , a tiny municipality , now home to london 's financial institutions , and that that was where it had all begun .