2. Why do you think the author chose to say Maurice's home was "only” two blocks away from Laura's and to compare it to a different planet?

An informal structure in a bureaucracy would be something like so-called "office politics". where there's a formal structure set up for the organization, but then an informal subculture as well that has a way of organizing the bureaucracy further. this can be positive because it sets up an added degree of organization, albeit informal, within the bureaucracy.