I was simply responding to the admonishing "That's naughty" for my bit of humour. When people are sacked, forced to resign or made to feel guilty for what they happen to have said 10, 20 or 30 years ago – or when seats of learning allow speakers to discuss history only from certain angles – that is where I see obsession. With the "mass media" ranging (thankfully) from The Guardian and the so-changed BBC to the repeatedly stereotyped Daily Mail (to me, little different from the Daily Express, Mirror or Sun), we are not (yet) limited to the likes of Pravda and the People’s Daily.
Someone I told about Derelict Places could not understand “why people are obsessed about visiting such often dangerous sites, when there are so many beautiful, attractive places at which to spend one’s time”. I replied along the lines of, “horses for courses; each to their own”. One person’s obsession is another’s bête noire; a little like topics for jokes. One of my 'obsessions' is Box Tunnel.
