Paul Asling
Bio
I share a special love for London, both new and old. I began writing fiction at 40, with most of my books and stories set in London.
MY WRITING WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH, CRY, AND HAVE YOU GRIPPED THROUGHOUT.
paulaslingauthor.com
Stories (80)
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THE HEART-RENDERING STORY OF THE FOUR-LEGGED WOMAN
Mother nature is impossible to comprehend. It sometimes gives and sometimes jinxes according to its impulses and needs, and we have absolutely no say in its affairs. We are given a physique at birth and we have to live out our lives in it. It is neither fair nor acceptable that one human is born with a faultless genetic make-up into a wealthy family, whilst somebody else is born with various genetic diseases into an underprivileged family. That, though, is life, and there is zilch that can be done about it.
By Paul Asling4 years ago in FYI
GIVING BIRTH IN VICTORIAN TIMES
When people married in the mid-nineteenth century, they assumed children would follow quickly and frequently. The usual sense was kids just came, and there was absolutely nothing to be done about it. Ladies were encouraged to see parenthood as both vocation and duty. Marriage and pregnancy were considered a woman’s only proper occupation, and birth control information was forbidden in the nineteenth century. The typical working-class wife was either expectant or breastfeeding from her wedding day to menopause. Females who wedded in their early twenties could presume to bear children continuously in their early to middle forties. Families were large, with an average of six to eight children, but averages can be misleading. Families with many more children were common.
By Paul Asling4 years ago in FYI
THE CLERKENWELL HOUSE OF DETENTION LONDON
The House of Detention in London was constructed at the site of two previous prisons, Clerkenwell Bridewell for sentenced prisoners and The New Prison for individuals awaiting trial. In 1794 The Bridewell shut its doors and its purposes were taken over by Coldbath Fields Prison in Mount Pleasant, London. The New Prison was totally renovated in 1847 when its name was changed to the House of Detention.
By Paul Asling4 years ago in FYI
THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR AND THE TEMPLE CHURCH LONDON
From the Crusades, the turmoil of the Reformation, World War II air raids and 20th century revamps, Temple Church is one of London’s most significant churches. The Church is among the most stunning oldest churches in London. It can be found between Fleet Street and the River Thames. It was constructed by the Knights Templar to house their English HQ.
By Paul Asling4 years ago in FYI
WHITE BRITISH SLAVES
The song Rule Britannia proclaims, Britons never will be slaves. But, there was a time when many Britons were made slaves. For over two hundred and fifty years, the coastline of southwest England was at the mercy of the Barbary pirates from North Africa.
By Paul Asling4 years ago in FYI
THE OLDEST HOUSE IN THE CITY OF LONDON
41-42 Cloth Fair (pictured second to left) is perhaps the oldest private home in the City of London, but its exterior gives scarce clues to its intriguing and ancient heritage. There looks to be nothing notable about the four-bedroom house, but incredibly it was built over four hundred years ago in 1614, making it the oldest house in the City of London.
By Paul Asling4 years ago in FYI
THE NORTH CRAY MEDIEVAL HOUSE
The Medieval Hall House was re-discovered at North Cray in the 1960s when they were building a dual carriageway. The North Cray medieval house is a typical medieval house. The timbers were painted red, following evidence that this was done when the house was originally built. Built-in the 15th century, the house was disassembled and re-erected at the Weald & Downland Living Museum just outside Chichester in West Sussex. Located in the museum are many historic buildings set in over forty acres of the beautiful South Downs. The buildings from a time period extending from Anglo-Saxon to Edwardian times, approximately 950 AD to 1910 AD.
By Paul Asling4 years ago in FYI
MARRIAGE AND SEX IN THE MIDDLE AGES
The prose of the Middle Ages is filled with praise and disapproval of marriage, and a heavy dose of cynicism we see today. In Medieval times, marriage differed from today. Women didn’t have a choice who they would marry and, most of the time, women didn’t even know the man before they wed.
By Paul Asling4 years ago in FYI
THE WW1 ZEPPELIN AND THE HIDDEN 13th CENTURY ARCH AND A TUDOR FACADE
Standing at the entrance to one of London’s oldest churches lies St Bartholomew’s gatehouse, a rare survivor of Tudor London. Located on West Smithfield, not far from St Bart’s Hospital, is the St Bartholomew’s Gatehouse. Crammed between a French bistro and a red brick Georgian-style structure, the slender gatehouse encompasses a 13th-century arch, topped by a two-storey, 16th century Tudor building. The gatehouse guards, St Bartholomew-the-Great, which was an Augustinian priory.
By Paul Asling4 years ago in FYI
