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Along the towpath, the battle between winter and spring has begun with days of warmth and days of sleet. Although even the young ducks teach us a lesson in conflict avoidance. Join us tonight as we celebrate the lives of two people who were central to the creation of Nighttime on Still Waters.
Journal entry:
12th March, Wednesday.
“The day winds down.
A last walk along the canal side.
Pebbled rings form in the open water.
A kick of sleet
Drives against my face.
Captivated by the golden sun
Shining through rain mist.
Such unimagined golds.
Behind me
A pale rainbow
Bows and fades to such majesty.”
Episode Information:
This episode is dedicated to the memory to two people without whom this podcast would not have been created: Michael Goode and Clifford DeHaven.
Among many things, Clifford was a great musician. One of his musical incarnations was as 'Mournful Hornet' which seemed to capture his offbeat character and heart. You can hear him on SoundCloud. I also read the words of Meg Kara (Poetic Meg).
With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.
Gabriela Maria Rodriguez-Veinotte
Kevin B.
Fleur and David Mcloughlin
Lois Raphael
Tania Yorgey
Andrea Hansen
Chris Hinds
David Dirom
Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith
General Details
The intro and the outro music is ‘Crying Cello’ by Oleksii_Kalyna (2024) licensed for free-use by Pixabay (189988).
Narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.
Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.
All other audio recorded on site.
Support the show
Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters
You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.
Send us Fan Mail
Along the towpath winter slowly fades. If we are not quite in spring yet, we can feel it close at hand. Join us tonight as we celebrate the shifts in light and tone across the landscape and from deep within.
Journal entry:
26th February, Wednesday
“For me, there are few things more beautiful and soul inspiring than this:
Rain on water,
Old growth by the waterside,
Time-bleached reeds
Standing like Nepalese prayer flags.
The song of home.
Signals of transcendence.”
Episode Information:
In this episode I read following poems:
‘Winter’ by Frank Mansell
‘XXXIV’ by Idris Davies (adapted by Max Boyce ‘When we walked to Merthyr Tydfil’)
I also read excerpts from Book of Seasons by William Howitt (1833) and The Golden Age by Kenneth Grahame (1895).
I also refer to the 1973 BBC Play for Today ‘Shakespeare or Bust’ which can be viewed on YouTube.
With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.
Kevin B.
Fleur and David Mcloughlin
Lois Raphael
Tania Yorgey
Andrea Hansen
Chris Hinds
David Dirom
Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith
General Details
The intro and the outro music is ‘Crying Cello’ by Oleksii_Kalyna (2024) licensed for free-use by Pixabay (189988).
Narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.
Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.
All other audio recorded on site.
Support the show
Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters
You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.
Send us Fan Mail
A winter’s night on the canal, starless and wind gnawed. A snug cabin with a warm stove. A hot drink in a favourite mug (and a biscuit or two). A cosy chair waiting for you. It’s just the perfect kind of night to curl up and listen to some accounts about life on the canals in winters past, when the ice was 2ft 6in deep.
Journal entry:
14th February, Friday
"Steel-grey half-light.
Rooks swing round the naked oaks.
The daily clamour of heading for home;
Roosting time.
Their exuberant crow song
And sense of life
Fill me with a nameless emotion.
It's something about
A longing for home."
Episode Information:
The two readings featured in this episode are:
‘The Great Frost of 1895’ by Monica Bennett and ‘Day of the ‘Iceberg’ by Ron Whatley. They both can be found in Up the Cut: An anthology of inland waterways edited by Ivan E Broadhead, published in 1994 by Alan Sutton Publishing.
With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.
Kevin B.
Fleur and David Mcloughlin
Lois Raphael
Sami Walbury
Tania Yorgey
Andrea Hansen
Chris Hinds
David Dirom
Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith
General Details
The intro and the outro music is ‘Crying Cello’ by Oleksii_Kalyna (2024) licensed for free-use by Pixabay (189988).
Narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.
Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.
All other audio recorded on site.
Support the show
Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters
You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.
Send us Fan Mail
It’s a bitingly cold, sleety night. There’s a warning of snow in the forecast for later. It’s a perfect night to sit together around a warm stove snug inside the Erica’s cabin, while the wild world rages outside. The kettle is singing, the biscuit barrel is full. The night belongs to us.
Journal entry:
7th February, Friday.
“Yesterday’s spectacular
Blood-orange dawn
Has given way to a dawn
Without colour or feeling.
We pick our way between
Rutted potholes of slippery mud
To the Magpie’s scalding laugh.
A wicked wind cuts
In from the north-east
And reminds me that I am,
After all, an embodied being.”
Episode Information:
In this episode I read ‘Where does Comfort’s Bosom Glow?’ by John Clare from his Madrigals and Chronicles: Being newly found poems and ‘The Darkling Thrush’ by Thomas Hardy (1900).
I also quote from William Blake’s (1796/7) The Four Zoas (Night the Second).
With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.
Kevin B.
Fleur and David Mcloughlin
Lois Raphael
Sami Walbury
Tania Yorgey
Andrea Hansen
Chris Hinds
David Dirom
Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith
General Details
The intro and the outro music is ‘Crying Cello’ by Oleksii_Kalyna (2024) licensed for free-use by Pixabay (189988).
Narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.
Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.
All other audio recorded on site.
Support the show
Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters
You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.
Send us Fan Mail
There seems to be an awful of change happening recently, often unasked and with far-reaching consequences. Knowing how to deal with it can be difficult and lead us to feeling unbalanced and overwhelmed. Tonight, we try to find some still-points within the chaos.
Journal entry:
23rd January, Thursday
“A robin, one winter,
Riding out a sleety squall
On the flailing branch
Of pyracantha fire.
He often springs to mind
When squalls hit
And my world lurches
Fearfully beneath me.
I wish for his poise
And his ability to find
And surf upon the
Still-point of chaos.”
Episode Information:
In this episode, I talk about Orange Cookie’s beautiful ‘Still Waters and Nighttime Bats’ tea towel that is inspired by this podcast. You can view this and her other designs at Spoonflower.
I also read a very short extract from The Monk and the Butterfly by Kai T. Murano (published independently, 2024).
With special thanks to our lock-wheelers for supporting this podcast.
Kevin B.
Fleur and David Mcloughlin
Lois Raphael
Sami Walbury
Tania Yorgey
Andrea Hansen
Chris Hinds
David Dirom
Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith
General Details
Theme music: ‘Crying Cello’ by Oleksii_Kalyna (2024) licensed for free-use by Pixabay (189988).
Narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.
Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.
All other audio recorded on site.
Support the show
Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters
You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.
Send us Fan Mail
Join us aboard the Erica, as we sit around the stove on a raw night of ice and freezing fog. Tonight, we reflect on boat (and other) life in the times of hard frost, the trials of swan and kingfisher life, and we finish with a short reading from Tom Rolt.
Journal entry:
9th January, Thursday
“The shatter of January light
On fractured ice.
The smouldering
Of fallen leaves
Frozen into the ringing silence
Of stilled waters.”
Episode Information:
In this episode I read an extract from Sue Wilkes’ (2011) Tracing your Canal Ancestors: A guide for family historians published by Pen and Sword.
The episode concludes with a very short extract from LTC (Tom) Rolt’s (1944) Narrow Boat now re-published for its 70th anniversary in 2014 by History Press.
The sounds of ice were recorded on the Erica in February 2021.
With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.
Fleur and David Mcloughlin
Lois Raphael
Sami Walbury
Tania Yorgey
Andrea Hansen
Chris Hinds
David Dirom
Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith
General Details
In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.
Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.
Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.
All other audio recorded on site.
Support the show
Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters
You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.
Send us Fan Mail
I am probably not the only one feeling a little disoriented and uncertain about what the upcoming year will hold. While it is great to have plans and dreams, these are not always possible and sometimes, I think, not even desirable. There are times for wisdom to be silent and for the 'undreaming' to occur before we can begin to discover new music and new dances.
Journal entry:
1st January, Wednesday
“A dawn of tobacco and salmon
And racing clouds.
A solitary raven rows
Swiftly against the current of the day.
Hacking cough and aching limbs
There is more than one way to enter a new year.”
Episode Information:
In this episode I give a short update to why there was no Christmas episode this year and we welcome in 2025.
With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.
Fleur and David Mcloughlin
Lois Raphael
Sami Walbury
Tania Yorgey
Andrea Hansen
Chris Hinds
David Dirom
Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith
General Details
In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.
Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.
Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.
All other audio recorded on site.
Support the show
Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters
You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.
Send us Fan Mail
Join us tonight under the soft light of a veiled full moon as we consider the wash of winter tree colours, when to start looking for a mooring, and how practical do you have to be to live on a boat?
Journal entry:
11th December, Wednesday
“All week, a north-easterly
Has raked across the bevelled
Waters, aching and raw,
Rattling the stern hatch doors.
The reeds whisper cold
Lullabies to the moorhen.
A kingfisher darts dimly
Through the dusk.”
Episode Information:
In this episode I read two short extracts from John Clare’s ‘December’ from his Shepherd’s Calendar (1820).
I also read ‘The Long Village (Oct 2024)’ by Mind Shambles.
You can read the about the names of the full moons (in the UK) at the Royal Museums Greenwich website.
With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.
Lois Raphael
Sami Walbury
Tania Yorgey
Andrea Hansen
Chris Hinds
David Dirom
Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith
General Details
In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.
Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.
Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.
All other audio recorded on site.
Support the show
Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters
You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.
Send us Fan Mail
Join us round the stove tonight as we celebrate the joys and reflect on the lessons of living on a boat when winter approaches in the good company of Tom Rolt and Christine Rigden.
This episode is dedicated to Dad, who would have been 96 today.
Journal entry:
28th November, Thursday.
“Old moon
Curls with his back
To the dawn.
A slivered, sickled
Crescent of cold silver
That bathes the ivy
In frost.
My feet slide
On beauty.”
Episode Information:
In this episode I read an extract from Tom Rolt’s (1944) Narrow Boat and ‘Winter Boating’ and ‘Gone Aground’ by Christine Rigden from her volume (2015) Metamorphosis.
With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.
Lois Raphael
Sami Walbury
Tania Yorgey
Andrea Hansen
Chris Hinds
David Dirom
Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Donna Kelly
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith
General Details
In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.
Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.
Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.
All other audio recorded on site.
Support the show
Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters
You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.
Send us Fan Mail
Recently, Britain experienced a blocking high pressure system, leading to an extended period of ‘anticyclonic gloom.’ Such are the conditions in which myths are created and as Blodeuwedd and Lleu indicate might still be created.
Journal entry:
15th November, Friday
Early light.
Thick mist
Licked with salmon
On the eastern edge.
Frost glitters
Along the cabin roof
And rimes hoary
On the solar panels.
Rooks pour off
The music stave
Of telegraph wires
Whirling around the one oak.
The mist erupts
With black wings
And ragged song
And such mysterious
Determined intent
That there is something
In me that flies
Off with them.
Episode Information:
In this episode I refer the story of Blodeuwedd and Lleu from the Mabinogion. I also refer to Gwilym Morus-Baird’s reading of it.
The female tawny owl was recorded in the field by Sean Townsend (Freesound 2013).
With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.
Lois Raphael
Sami Walbury
Tania Yorgey
Andrea Hansen
Chris Hinds
David Dirom
Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Donna Kelly
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith
General Details
In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.
Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence.
Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.
All other audio recorded on site.
Support the show
Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters
You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.
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