Spitalfield Life website

[yen_powell]

I think I've mentioned this website before. A new article every day, he does repeat himself occasionally. 90% of them are fascinating, stories of ordinary people with extraordinary lives that no one knows about until they tell you. I've been to visit some of the places he mentions, others I already know about due to working in the area and being nosy.

Just some examples to start with

A place I am going to soon, hidden behind Kings Cross and St Pancras Station, just to see The Hardy Tree and the inspiration for the red London telephone box.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/06/10/at-st-pancras-old-churchyard-x/

Find out who actually makes ballet shoes, you'll be surprised.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/11/the-point-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/

The story of where a famous saying comes from

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/31/the-foundling-of-shoreditch-x/

I might put a few more on here at a later date as I find them again. Ones such as the transvestite of Bethnal Green and his/her electric cooker collection, The tramp so stylish he is paid to model neckerchiefs, a small shop that still has stock from the 1700s and supplies spares for the Queen's coronation and other coaches, the Bangladeshi mechanics who inhabit the hundreds of railway arches hidden away from view, the old mechanic who used to work on souping up the Krays AND the Flying Squad's cars at the same time in the 50s, the day to day life of the Raven Keeper at the Tower etc.

.

 

[XTreme]

4 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

I think I've mentioned this website before. A new article every day, he does repeat himself occasionally. 90% of them are fascinating, stories of ordinary people with extraordinary lives that no one knows about until they tell you. I've been to visit some of the places he mentions, others I already know about due to working in the area and being nosy.

Just some examples to start with

A place I am going to soon, hidden behind Kings Cross and St Pancras Station, just to see The Hardy Tree and the inspiration for the red London telephone box.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/06/10/at-st-pancras-old-churchyard-x/

Find out who actually makes ballet shoes, you'll be surprised.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/11/the-point-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/

The story of where a famous saying comes from

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/31/the-foundling-of-shoreditch-x/

I might put a few more on here at a later date as I find them again. Ones such as the transvestite of Bethnal Green and his/her electric cooker collection, The tramp so stylish he is paid to model neckerchiefs, a small shop that still has stock from the 1700s and supplies spares for the Queen's coronation and other coaches, the Bangladeshi mechanics who inhabit the hundreds of railway arches hidden away from view, the old mechanic who used to work on souping up the Krays AND the Flying Squad's cars at the same time in the 50s, the day to day life of the Raven Keeper at the Tower etc.

.

 

Does he do abandoned shit Yen?

[Tango]

52 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

I think I've mentioned this website before. A new article every day, he does repeat himself occasionally. 90% of them are fascinating, stories of ordinary people with extraordinary lives that no one knows about until they tell you. I've been to visit some of the places he mentions, others I already know about due to working in the area and being nosy.

Just some examples to start with

A place I am going to soon, hidden behind Kings Cross and St Pancras Station, just to see The Hardy Tree and the inspiration for the red London telephone box.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/06/10/at-st-pancras-old-churchyard-x/

Find out who actually makes ballet shoes, you'll be surprised.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/11/the-point-shoe-makers-of-hackney-x/

The story of where a famous saying comes from

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/07/31/the-foundling-of-shoreditch-x/

I might put a few more on here at a later date as I find them again. Ones such as the transvestite of Bethnal Green and his/her electric cooker collection, The tramp so stylish he is paid to model neckerchiefs, a small shop that still has stock from the 1700s and supplies spares for the Queen's coronation and other coaches, the Bangladeshi mechanics who inhabit the hundreds of railway arches hidden away from view, the old mechanic who used to work on souping up the Krays AND the Flying Squad's cars at the same time in the 50s, the day to day life of the Raven Keeper at the Tower etc.

.

 

They're awesome articles, really interesting.

[yen_powell]

45 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Does he do abandoned shit Yen?

Sometimes, he's been knocking his stuff out for about 15 plus years I reckon and it' covers lots of things. Lots of old house interiors and attics, crypts, old places of worship, tombs etc. I will warn you, he is a bit cat obsessed so you get the odd bit of stuff about his dead cat.

Oh yes, he has photographs taken from inside the model of St Pauls Cathedral. This was how the King was persuaded to let it be built by getting inside and looking out the windows.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2020/07/10/inside-the-model-of-st-pauls-o/

[yen_powell]

Today's article, one of my favourite types, just an ordinary person's life. I've worked out what road he lives in so will keep my eye out to see if I can spot it.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/08/25/stan-jones-of-mile-end-x/

[XTreme]

20 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

Today's article, one of my favourite types, just an ordinary person's life. I've worked out what road he lives in so will keep my eye out to see if I can spot it.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/08/25/stan-jones-of-mile-end-x/

What an amazing old guy.

Always surprises me though, the people who can live in the same place their whole lives and never want for any more.

[Tango]

55 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

Today's article, one of my favourite types, just an ordinary person's life. I've worked out what road he lives in so will keep my eye out to see if I can spot it.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/08/25/stan-jones-of-mile-end-x/

I had a colleague at my last job who still lives in the house he was born in Finchley, he's 65 now. I once asked him if he'd ever move and he said probably not. I'm guessing that his house is worth a small fortune now!

[XTreme]

2 minutes ago, Tango said:

I had a colleague at my last job who still lives in the house he was born in Finchley, he's 65 now. I once asked him if he'd ever move and he said probably not. I'm guessing that his house is worth a small fortune now!

Think back to when we were young Bob.......we never ever imagined we'd end up living abroad did we?

It just didn't happen then.......and it looks like it's going to go back to that.

[Tango]

5 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Think back to when we were young Bob.......we never ever imagined we'd end up living abroad did we?

It just didn't happen then.......and it looks like it's going to go back to that.

True, Pete. I'd only been abroad once by the time I was 22. It was only when I was in my 30's that I really started travelling a lot more and probably only in the last 10 years that I actually gave living abroad any thought at all!

[XTreme]

15 minutes ago, Tango said:

True, Pete. I'd only been abroad once by the time I was 22. It was only when I was in my 30's that I really started travelling a lot more and probably only in the last 10 years that I actually gave living abroad any thought at all!

I'd never been abroad Bob.......coming here was the first time.

16 years now and never regretted it!

Strange how some Brits resent people like us though?

[yen_powell]

I was the other way round, spent the first 5 years of life abroad, then came home in time to start school in England. Didn't go abroad again till my school trip to Boulogne at the age of 13 and then not again till I was in my 20s.

[XTreme]

Just now, yen_powell said:

I was the other way round, spent the first 5 years of life abroad, then came home in time to start school in England. Didn't go abroad again till my school trip to Boulogne at the age of 13 and then not again till I was in my 20s.

You ever going to take another trip to Morocco Yen?

[Tango]

36 minutes ago, XTreme said:

I'd never been abroad Bob.......coming here was the first time.

16 years now and never regretted it!

Strange how some Brits resent people like us though?

I know people and even have relatives that have never been out of the country! One girl I worked with many years ago had never been outside the town she was born in!

Yeah, some people don't want to travel and that's fine by me, but then they want to stop or make it difficult for those who do want to! I just don't get that mentality. 

[yen_powell]

37 minutes ago, XTreme said:

You ever going to take another trip to Morocco Yen?

No, I will stick to the civilised parts of Europe and islands off the coast of Africa between now and death I reckon.

[XTreme]

6 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

I will stick to the civilised parts of Europe

So you're not coming here then? 

[yen_powell]

3 hours ago, XTreme said:

So you're not coming here then? 

I've got my Mad Max DVDs as a good substitute, although not as many dwarfs in those.

[yen_powell]

Three Mills. This is actually a few feet away from a massive Tesco car park and about 50 yards from the A12 Blackwall Tunnel Approach Road. Lots of artistic types running about outside as there is a film/tv studio attached. Lovely building on the river Lea.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/08/26/at-the-house-mill-o/

 

Streetview so you can look around at the not so pretty surroundings. 

https://goo.gl/maps/chiGNHdbhiofyPoV7

[Tango]

40 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

Three Mills. This is actually a few feet away from a massive Tesco car park and about 50 yards from the A12 Blackwall Tunnel Approach Road. Lots of artistic types running about outside as there is a film/tv studio attached. Lovely building on the river Lea.

https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/08/26/at-the-house-mill-o/

 

Streetview so you can look around at the not so pretty surroundings. 

https://goo.gl/maps/chiGNHdbhiofyPoV7

Excellent. 

I used to drive more or less past that when I was going into the Royal London Hospital. I'd come down the M11 and then onto the Blackwall tunnel approach, but I turned off just past Bromley-by-Bow underground station and then head across to Stepney High Street and then the back roads through to the hospital. Some interesting places along the way. There used to be a small farm not far from Stepney High Street, but I think it was getting closed down the last time I saw it.

[yen_powell]

32 minutes ago, Tango said:

Excellent. 

I used to drive more or less past that when I was going into the Royal London Hospital. I'd come down the M11 and then onto the Blackwall tunnel approach, but I turned off just past Bromley-by-Bow underground station and then head across to Stepney High Street and then the back roads through to the hospital. Some interesting places along the way. There used to be a small farm not far from Stepney High Street, but I think it was getting closed down the last time I saw it.

Farm's still going, do a nice set of market stalls on a Saturday now. I had to resurface the whole length of Stepney Way a few years ago and I offered to sort out their puddle filled crossover at the same time but they said they couldn't close it any day of the week to let me do the work so it got left.

My resurface of Stepney Way was a second attempt due to snow a few weeks earlier. I didn't actually have a legal road closure the second time round but told everyone I did and got away with it. When I turned up on the morning before closing off the road what do I find? A car wrapped around a lamp post, a boy driver in custody and a ring of police vehicles at jaunty angles after a high speed chase. I asked the rozzer in charge if he was going to measure any skid marks because they wouldn't exist in an hour or so.

[Tango]

16 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

Farm's still going, do a nice set of market stalls on a Saturday now. I had to resurface the whole length of Stepney Way a few years ago and I offered to sort out their puddle filled crossover at the same time but they said they couldn't close it any day of the week to let me do the work so it got left.

My resurface of Stepney Way was a second attempt due to snow a few weeks earlier. I didn't actually have a legal road closure the second time round but told everyone I did and got away with it. When I turned up on the morning before closing off the road what do I find? A car wrapped around a lamp post, a boy driver in custody and a ring of police vehicles at jaunty angles after a high speed chase. I asked the rozzer in charge if he was going to measure any skid marks because they wouldn't exist in an hour or so.

I'm glad that the farm is still there and doing ok. It would have been a shame to see it close.

[XTreme]

9 minutes ago, Tango said:

I'm glad that the farm is still there and doing ok. It would have been a shame to see it close.

Where are you from originally Bob?

[Tango]

11 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Where are you from originally Bob?

Originally from northwest Kent, Pete, but I moved to Cambridgeshire in the early 90's because of work. My mum used to ask when was I going to move back and I said never. She lives in Dartford and moans about it constantly.

[XTreme]

35 minutes ago, Tango said:

Originally from northwest Kent, Pete, but I moved to Cambridgeshire in the early 90's because of work. My mum used to ask when was I going to move back and I said never. She lives in Dartford and moans about it constantly.

So you're saying that potentially you come from the same gene pool as Six then? 

Sorry to hear that Bob! 

[yen_powell]

46 minutes ago, Tango said:

Originally from northwest Kent, Pete, but I moved to Cambridgeshire in the early 90's because of work. My mum used to ask when was I going to move back and I said never. She lives in Dartford and moans about it constantly.

Dartford, if anyone even just looks at the bridge or tunnels in a funny way then the whole area comes to a grinding halt.

I was supposed to drive to Aveley last week just north of the bridge and just before I was due to leave I checked google maps for the traffic situation. Everywhere around there was black with standstill traffic (might have been dark red, but colour blind and all that). I had to grab all my stuff out of the car and start strapping it to my bike at the last minute.

[XTreme]

7 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

Dartford, if anyone even just looks at the bridge or tunnels in a funny way then the whole area comes to a grinding halt.

I was supposed to drive to Aveley last week just north of the bridge and just before I was due to leave I checked google maps for the traffic situation. Everywhere around there was black with standstill traffic (might have been dark red, but colour blind and all that). I had to grab all my stuff out of the car and start strapping it to my bike at the last minute.

I thought it was The Garden of England Yen?