Category Archives: Home

A Dill Pickle

Posted on 14/10/2021 by Bobby Seal

This piece is taken from a longer review of the short stories of Katherine Mansfield which I published in 2013. It was used by the composer, Matt Malsky, as the programme notes for his chamber opera, A Dill Pickle, which … Continue reading →

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Abandoned in the Woods: Part 2, Horsley Hall

Posted on 11/10/2021 by Bobby Seal

In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself astray in a dark wood*   Beyond the northern edge of the derelict Royal Pioneer Corps camp we visited in Part 1, the way through the wood is … Continue reading →

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Abandoned in the Woods: Part 1, The Lost Army Camp

Posted on 01/10/2021 by Bobby Seal

‘It has a really creepy feel to it’, she said. ‘You’d love it!’ Ever since the first lockdown, Mrs S has gone out on her bike at least once a week, exploring the local lanes, going a little further and … Continue reading →

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A Garden Village

Posted on 27/09/2021 by Bobby Seal

In 1913 the Welsh Town Planning and Housing Trust proposed an innovative new housing scheme in Wrexham; the first of its kind in Wales. Taking as their inspiration similar schemes at Port Sunlight on the Wirral and Bournville in Birmingham, … Continue reading →

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Why the Germans Do It Better: Notes From a Grown-Up Country by John Kampfner

Posted on 16/09/2021 by Bobby Seal

Book Review – September 2021 In 1994, when Angela Merkel was Germany’s environment minister, her British opposite number, John Gummer, invited her to stay with him and his family in his Suffolk constituency. They spent each evening in his sitting … Continue reading →

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I Belong Here: A Journey Along the Backbone of Britain by Anita Sethi

Posted on 21/08/2021 by Bobby Seal

Book Review – August 2021 Warning: This review includes a quote of the racist expletives used by the perpetrator of a hate crime. According to the CPRE, just 1% of visitors to England’s National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural … Continue reading →

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Great Master / small boy – by Liz Lefroy

Posted on 05/08/2021 by Bobby Seal

Book Review – August 2021 In the summer of 2018 Liz Lefroy and her son, Jonty, took a trip across central Europe. They visited Bonn and Vienna on the trail of art, architecture, history and sachertorte. They were also searching … Continue reading →

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The Sea View Has Me Again: Uwe Johnson in Sheerness – Patrick Wright

Posted on 28/07/2021 by Bobby Seal

Book Review – July 2021 It may at first seem puzzling that Uwe Johnson, one of Germany’s most accomplished writers of the twentieth century, should spend the final ten years of his life in Sheerness on Kent’s Isle of Sheppey. … Continue reading →

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Heavy Time: A Psychogeographer’s Pilgrimage by Sonia Overall

Posted on 05/07/2021 by Bobby Seal

Book Review – July 2021 Sonia Overall was born and brought up in Ely, a cathedral city on a rocky island in England’s damp, black-soiled Fen country. A constant presence in her childhood was the river which flowed through the … Continue reading →

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Within Walls

Posted on 14/05/2021 by Bobby Seal

Well, I know how she feels, I have unhappy memories of Chester myself, but it cannot be the fault of the place, surely, because look at all those fine old buildings, and that splendid cathedral.  Maria was especially fond of … Continue reading →

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