Nighttime on Still Waters
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© 2024 Nighttime on Still Waters
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A narrowboat-based audio journal on canal life, living aboard, the elements, and the night. Perfect late-night listening for dreamers, insomniacs, night owls, nocturnalists, drifters, and nomads. For lovers Fagen's 'Nightfly', Auden's 'Night Mail', Hopper's 'Nighthawks' and the 'drifting sea-dark streets' of Dylan Thomas. For all those who used to listen to the transistor under your pillow, love the sound of distant trains and rain against the windowpanes, canals and drover's tracks, lost music, splashed puddles, fireflies and bats, hares by moonlight, windsong among pines, owl-light, the shipping forecast, and all the wonderful, terrifying, grand and tawdry avenues of the night. Cosy listening for bedtimes.
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In tonight’s episode we meet a couple of beautiful spring flowers with some fearsome reputations and go about spring cleaning a very messy and cluttered boat with the help of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows.Journal entry:8th May, Wednesday.“A May evening of golden haze And drifting willow down And the busy day winds down.Nearby, lambs call as mothers graze and nuzzle Beyond them, chiff-chaff, robin, and bluetit. Further distant, the sound of children playing.&nbs...
In tonight’s episode we meet a couple of beautiful spring flowers with some fearsome reputations and go about spring cleaning a very messy and cluttered boat with the help of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows.Journal entry: 20th April, Saturday“A ring of coltsfoot heads has been placed In the crevice of an oak-beam used as a picnic table. They lie bleached and desiccated Shrouded in fine cobweb and dust. They look just like the vestige Of some prehistoric...
For us the river of the year has, so far, been roaring and fierce. It is difficult, at times, to see the bank or to even know whether we are floating or sinking. However, that is only one small part of the picture. What follows is a rather incoherent attempt to find coherence amid the noise. Journal entry:10th April, Wednesday“This morning dawned in chilled silver I wore my coat up to my chin. Now the sun is out And coltsfoot down dances On a warm wind.”With sp...
As the slow march of Spring travels along the canal and towpaths, tonight I answer two more questions: How do we keep the boat from freezing when we have to leave it unattended, and how long does it normally take to buy a narrowboat?Journal entry:7th March, Thursday.“A grey wind blows From a grey sky Troubling the surface Of the canal.Damson blossom Torn from branch Spun snow-like With each gust.Sweet smell of woodsmoke And the throat-catch of coal Cros...
As a family, we gained a reputation for the way our 'short walks' often turned into marathon hikes which invariably meant staggering home long after dark (usually without a torch). In this week’s episode I reminisce on the lessons learnt, their prescient significance, and living in a culture that does growing old and dying so astonishingly badly.Journal entry:24th February, Saturday.“Cloud cliffs, grey and climbing Early spring sunshine Catching the stonework traceries An...
Welcome aboard the NB Erica on a wet winter’s night. It is a perfect night to snuggle down and listen to JM Synge’s turn of the 20th century accounts of his travels to the Aran Islands in a small currach on stormy seas. Journal entry:14th February, Wednesday (St. Valentine’s Day)“Outside, No coat, On the hill that runs down to the cut.Warm sun, fleeting, Cloud chasing with the gulls And the circle of two buzzards.Maggie sits, watching, From a throne of dried gras...
It has been a rather tempestuous year so far! Currently, I am many miles from the boat and have not been able to record any podcasts. I have rather rushed this episode out to update you on the reasons why I have been so quiet of late and to bring you up to date with what has been happening. Apologies for the sound quality of this episode. I do not have my recording gear with me at the moment. Episode Information:In this episode I read parts of the lyrics from ‘Sit Down’ by James, w...
You are invited to join us for a very special episode as we celebrate Christmas Eve onboard the Erica and remember the Christmas Eves of our childhood. Journal entry: 21st December, Thursday, Winter Solstice“The year’s turning And the longest night.There’s a rough wind And angry skies.The polestar oak Finally felled.The ducks don’t seem To notice." Episode Information:Can I take this opportunity to wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a happy NEW YEAR!&...
You have seen the Instagram photographs/videos of happy boat-dogs gambolling along summer towpaths, dense with colour and sunshine, or happily curled up in front of cosy fires, but what is the reality of sharing a boat with a dog really like, especially in the winter? Journal entry: 15th December, Friday.“All night, The owls echoed Along the valley In the long tunnel Of the night.This morning, A magpie scratched Her jagged song Across the metalled...
Join us on a stormy December night to listen to the next part of ‘How Mum met Dad’ in celebration of Dad’s 95th birthday. This week, we hear about their crack of dawn wedding and their honeymoon on the Norfolk Broads in the Whippet. Journal entry: 7th December, Thursday“Untidy smoke trail of jackdaws Stream across an iron sky Of scalding wind and rain flail.Maggie and I pick our way Across the sheep field, December sings through the oaks.”Episode Information:For ...
This week is a very special episode as we celebrate Dad’s 95th birthday and we go back in time to hear about how a 1938 Hilman Minx was instrumental in how Mum met Dad.Journal entry:1st December, Friday“Short sections of the canal Are covered in a frosted skim of ice. Wafer thin But firm enough to bear a moorhen’s weight.She walks parallel to the offside bank Left foot raised in a high arc Then place it flat upon the ice Slide it forwards half an inch or so.Pivot...
Autumn is a good time for contemplation and a place by the fireside encourages reflection. Recently I have been revisiting the journals of Thomas Merton and, with the help of John Moriarty, I have found myself relearning some valuable lessons. The Edens of our flourishing are sometimes not quite what we dream them to be. Journal entry:15th November, Wednesday"Across the fields, A train clatters it's way to Birmingham. The lit carriages flickering like A process...
I've always felt that there is something rather singular about the month of November. Tonight I try to find out what it is and end up recounting the time when Guy Fawkes wore my old dressing gown (which might or might not have anything to do with it!). Journal entry:8th November, Wednesday.“Look down for the healing. A reluctant dawn this morning, South wind plays with stray raindrops And birch leaves. Scars of grey paving slabs lined with green. Willowherb, spur...
It’s a foul November night, so why not come and join me aboard the Erica by the warm glow of fire light. I have with me a lovely book that I found last year in a second-hand bookshop and think that it's perfect for a night like this. Journal entry: 1st November, Wednesday.“November is born brave This morning.The dark water is alive With movement And a scatter Of light.The walk from the boat To car Is under a starfield and A bold moon.”Episod...
I am not sure if it is just me, but so far autumn doesn’t feel quite so ‘autumny’ as it usually does. Therefore, I think that it is a perfect time to savour a reading from one of my most favourite childhood books, Brendon Chase by BB. Journal entry: 26th October, Thursday.“Darkness. Mizzle transforms the water Into star-fields of pinpricks of light. Evanescent.Like walking Through the tangle Of watery Spiders’ webs.A dance of tiny droplets In the ...
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the global events of the last couple of weeks. Following the battering of Storm Babet, this week’s episode offers a space for us to reflect on a world that can be often violent and far from perfect. Journal entry:13th October, Friday“Battered by the winds of the world I stop to watch the free-flight of rooks Diving from an oak into the full force Of a westerly gale.Gothic wings outspread, They surf the blast Hanging on its back&n...
The temperature outside is dipping down towards zero, so join us for a cosy night by the glow of a hot stove, as we chat about two subjects close to my heart and the surprising way that living on a boat has altered my attitude to them. Journal entry:13th October, Friday“Battered by the winds of the world I stop to watch the free-flight of rooks Diving from an oak into the full force Of a westerly gale.Gothic wings outspread, They surf the blast Hanging on its bac...
There's an old and trustworthy adage on the canals: when two or more boaters meet up it is only a matter of time before the conversation will turn to the subject of toilets. So guess what the topic of this week's episode is?! Journal entry: 3rd October, Tuesday“Light fades. Dew Falls. Maggie follows a rabbit’s scent-trail Through the long, wet grass. Two rooks head east into darkness.I struggle in the half-light With the padlock on the gate So we ...
A week of serious problems with our internet has meant that I have been unable to record the episode answering listeners’ questions. However, join us tonight to enjoy a special meeting under the ‘ghost’ of a harvest moon. Journal entry: 29th September, Friday“Early this morning, We met the swan slipping Light upon the night-time mists.Behind us, Cows stood knee deep in milk- white meadows.This is the stillness that falls After the storm.”Episode Information:...
There’s a chill in the air tonight and there will be mist on the water in the morning. Join me tonight as I answer some hard questions about how viability is a long term in the Erica on the canals? Journal entry:21st September, Thursday“For a short while this evening The crescent moon and the setting sun Shared the same length of skyline. A fiery bronze heart and the ghost of bone.Then a robin sings as rain drops fall. Here is tranquillity and peace. The horned m...
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