Sting’s song “All This Time” plays a pretty significant role in my mental world. It came out a few months after my first trip to England, a trip centered on London and Oxford, and it alerted me to the wholly different texture of a Northern city, a Northern upbringing. And it made me imaginatively aware of what it might be like to grow up in a country with a Roman history — for instance, in “an edge-of-the-Empire garrison town.” It set me on a path of inquiry that made me highly receptive to what would become one of my favorite books, Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Also, it’s one of Sting’s best songs. 🎵