Mother and Father Next Door
The true story of an ageing couple in 1980s England
A New Home
In the 1950s, in a small working-class town on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, England, a new housing estate was built. Street after street of semi-detached houses with indoor toilets and gardens, front and back! All very modern.
Mr and Mrs Seabridge, a middle-aged couple, had their name down for one such house in a pretty little cul-de-sac on the edge of the estate, near the posh houses of the private streets. In fact, their back garden would even back onto the garden of one such private house. Theirs would be a house to be proud of and take pride they would.
The couple watched their new home being built, their new street taking shape. At the end of the cul-de-sac would be a lovely little grass island with a flower bed in the middle, the road just wide enough for cars to circumnavigate. Mr and Mrs Seabridge’s house was to be at the very top end of the street, facing the flower bed and the whole cul-de-sac.
The 1950s
When their house was ready they moved in with sheer delight. Bill Seabridge, or Father, as Mrs Seabridge always called him (a habit from when their children were young), tended to their garden splendidly. He installed a small pond for goldfish which…
