Just had a quick browse through that old BBC 606 article. Some of the quotes from Dickens posted there show what a prophet (not to be confused with profit, a word seldom heard in Pompey these days) he was. The years he spent in Pompey were obviously inspirational for his later works.
From Great Expectations
"We spent as much money as we could, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us. We were always more or less miserable, and most of our acquaintance were in the same condition. There was a gay fiction*among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did. To the best of my belief, our case was in the last aspect a rather common one."
*Always had my suspicions
And from A Tale of Two Cities
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way"
That Dickens bloke, he new what he was talking about didn't he? The season of darkness, the winter of despair....When it's put like that I almost feel pity..almost.