Ashleylister

LATEST ARTICLES ( 2360 )

• Procrastination

  

  “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” A statement attributed to Benjamin Franklin, and one of my dad’s favourite sayings. Read more

  Posted on 06 January 2026 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Drinking

  

  In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the 'wild man' Enkidu is given beer to drink. "... he ate until he was full, drank seven pitchers of beer, his heart grew light, his... Read more

  Posted on 01 January 2026 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• An Unlikely Love

  

  I was tempted to skip this theme, to take a betwixtmas break from blogging, but then I thought 'You know what? I'm going to write a piece in appreciation of my... Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Lancashire Dead Good Poets' January Open Mic Night

  

  Join us for our first online open mic night of the New Year. There's no set theme and no headliners.. 20 x 5-minute slots are up for grabs on a 'first come'... Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• An Unlikely Love

  

  I’m going to have to go back to my school days and up until my mid twenties to make sense of An Unlikely Love. In school, and out of school, I could lose... Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Robins

  

  “The English robin is a bird rather smaller than a sparrow, in build between a thrush and a warbler, uniform brown on the upper parts, with an orange red... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Build-Up

  

  We are well into the build-up to December's Festive Season, call it what you will... Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Koliada, Laylat al-Raghaib, Saturnalia, Yalda... Read more

  Posted on 18 December 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Robins

  

  (Erithacus rubecula, European Robin) are small birds with a distinctive red breast and are a common sight throughout Britain and indeed, throughout Europe... Read more

  Posted on 18 December 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Robins

  

  Mark Robins scored one of the more iconic goals in his career when he was playing for Manchester United in an away game against Nottingham Forest on the 7th... Read more

  Posted on 17 December 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Build Up

  

  The other week my friend was telling me about the trip she had made to Dubai with her son. She was describing the places they had visited which was interesting... Read more

  Posted on 10 December 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Achievement

  

  “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.” That is one of my father’s sayings that he was fond of using. I don’t think I ever thought of him as a wise... Read more

  Posted on 04 November 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Trick Or Treating

  

  All Hallows' Eve (aka Hallowe'en), a liturgical event in the Christian calendar observed on 31st October, used to be a simple act of respectful remembrance for... Read more

  Posted on 03 November 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Spookiness

  

  I remember quite clearly sitting in the cafe at the Harris Museum and Art Gallery in Preston in about 2012 chatting with a guest for our radio show. Read more

  Posted on 29 October 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Sailing

  

  This evening I'm ruminating on the concept of sailing in the 21st century. Rewind a few hundred years and it was all fairly straightforward: body of water plus... Read more

  Posted on 26 October 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Wedding Cake

  

  It's serendipitous that this was 40 years ago tomorrow (October 19th 1985). Susan and I moved house two days later and lived out of boxes and on wedding cake fo... Read more

  Posted on 26 October 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Lancashire Dead Good Poets' November Open Mic Night

  

  Make a date with us for Firewords Night - our November open mic poetry event on zoom...Join us to read and/or listen along from the comfort of your own fireside... Read more

  Posted on 24 October 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Goal

  

  I stood on the terraces at Bloomfield Road at 2.30 this afternoon wondering what to write my Goal blog about. By 3.45 I knew it wouldn't be about Blackpool FC a... Read more

  Posted on 23 October 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Sailing

  

  The first visual depictions of sailing boats have been dated as far back as 5500 BCE, discovered on painted discs from Mesopotamia. Clay models and iconography... Read more

  Posted on 23 October 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Sailing

  

  How wonderful it would have been to go on the Moody Blues Cruise, or On the Blue Cruise as it was more recently known. A flight to USA then a few days sailing t... Read more

  Posted on 21 October 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION

• Wedding Cakes

  

  You can safely assume that wedding cakes are not an area that I have specialist knowledge of or indeed any knowledge of. I thought I’d better have a quick look... Read more

  Posted on 15 October 2025 BOOKS, CREATIVITY, CULTURE, SELF EXPRESSION