My take on "flat and familiar" in the context of this 'sitch' is the way things were pre-bomb from H's POV which K wanted to get back to right after the bomb but now would be "settling". And I think FG means it that way too.
All K's "work" has brought things back to that familiar point but ironically when one has put in all that work one expects a lot more. Therein lies the main difficulty in 'piecing'. It takes time and more work to get beyond that.
