I am Ashley Elsdon

someone who's doing some things

Tag: History

I was rubbish at history at school but I these days I find it very interesting. There’s nothing wrong with looking back is there.

A tour of Spitalfields

Posted by on in History, PlacesLeave a comment

This is one of those ‘I’ve had this in my drafts folder for ages and meant to finish it’ posts. So I thought I would get it finished as it is kind of interesting and you may want to give this a go, and also because I actually went on this tour last summer.

I have worked around Spitalfields off and on for years. When you commute in and out of an area you think that you know a place, but actually you don’t. You have a surface knowledge of what’s there and really none of the history. At least that is the case with me. I always liked the area, or at least the bits of it I knew well and visited often.

So I went on this walking tour of Spitalfields. It was by a chap who calls himself ‘The Gentle Author’. I have to say that he knew more local history than I thought could be packed into a small area of London, and not just any history, but really interesting and compelling history and stories of real people who lived and worked around Spitalfields. It was fantastic. I can thoroughly recommend it.

You can find out more about the tour here, and if that catches your interest then it is well worth reading the blog too.

Honk, Conk and Squacket

Posted by on in Books and AudiobooksLeave a comment

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I’ve been reading this book very slowly, mainly because it is in many ways just a dictionary, albeit a fantastic dictionary. Honk is a dictionary of ‘sound-words’, which is now something of a forgotten art. What need to we have any more of describing a sound when we can just hear it online somewhere within seconds.

Sound-words are fantastic though, they’re fantastical awesome constructions to help you imagine a sound.

The book brings together words from around the UK and the world for that matter. The words come from all ages too. So, if you enjoy sounds and have an interest in words too, this book may well be for you. I can safely say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A place I really need to go to …

Posted by on in History, Music, PlacesLeave a comment

This was an excellent recommendation, and one I think I might need to get to a few times. I’ve never been to the Musical Museum at Kew Bridge, and up until a few days ago, I’d never even heard of it! It sounds (pun intended) like somewhere I should be very well acquainted with, so my plan is to sort that out very soon.

When I have, expect pictures, over enthusiasm etc!

When tapes go wrong

Posted by on in Stuff, Uncategorized1 Comment

I’ve been clearing out old tapes, and when I say old I mean old. Some of the tapes are of my own music so I’ve been converting a few tracks to digital and finding songs that I’d completely forgotten about.

Sadly, one tape seems to have decided to give up and of course it had to be one which had lots of long forgotten treasure (for me anyway).

There’s only one thing for it. I’m going to have to open it up and see if I can splice the tape together, and I haven’t done that for years!

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