Nighttime on Still Waters
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...
Down to the River (On this blue and grey September day)
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Tonight, for a little while, let’s leave the sleeping canal in peace as it slowly recovers and heals after the summer long drought. Instead, let's go down to the river where the water is alive with light and chuckles and laps under rowing boats and let us see what we can see.
Journal entry:
4th September, Thursday
“Clouds pillow and pile
Black skies behind us
A fleeting sun catches
the scarlet of bryony berries
That wrap themselves around
Spiky vines of...
Under a Canopy of Trees ('Your word')
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A newly born moon is still below the horizon and the parched ground breathes in the quiet of a summer's night. The water levels may be low, but you're assured a welcome that is full and warm aboard the NB Erica as we catch up on life with all its ebbs and flows, and unfuriating complexities that make it all so worthwhile.
Journal entry:
18th August, Monday
“Rain in the night
Woke up to streaks on the windows.
I take the rake off the c...
Back from Blacking (And the ingenuity of drydocks)
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Could the humble drydock be the perfect example of canal engineering ingenuity? Find out why in our latest episode and join us back afloat onboard the Erica as we explore some surprising facts about this often-overlooked marvel.
Journal entry:
1st August, Friday (Lammas Day)
“Fields the colour of linen and calico
Under turbulent skies of heavy cloud.
As I chew on a blade of grass
The wind whips up dust devils
Across the dry, hard-baked hill.
Apples fall, half ripened.
Ha...
With Tom Rolt on the North Stratford Canal (Summer Readings)
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It’s been a long sweltering day. Darkness is reluctantly beginning to fall, and a restless heat lies heavy over the canal. Let's settle down and listen to some echoes from the canal-side past as we hear Tom Rolt’s account of his journey up the Stratford upon Avon Canal (North) and the ‘battle for Bridge Number 1 (Lifford Lane).'
At a time when many of us are feeling the strain of today’s network, Rolt’s account reminds us of just how far we’ve come — and of the grit and vision of t...
A Summer Wind among the Alders (Speaks of Lludd and Llefelys)
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Stories have always been part of our world. From antiquity, stories create the light that help us find our way through the darkness. We need to rediscover those stories to help us face the dragons in our lives. Join us tonight as we listen closely to the summer wind play among the alders and hear a very old story that understands our modern world.
Journal entry:
3rd July, Thursday
“Walking up the hill.
The grass crackles and scrunches
With each step.
If I...
Unsettled at the Still-Point (Of the year)
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It is a hot midsummer night of warm winds that makes the Erica creak at her moorings. Tonight, we find ourselves at a year’s turning point — caught between the stillness and the unsettling. Join us as we explore the solstice, the shifting seasons, the rhythm of carnival swings, and the restless nature of the mind, uncovering the connections between them all.
Journal entry:
16th June, Monday
“Cresting
The eternal now
The carp and I
Share the summer sun”
Episode Inf...
A brooding sky and mirrored waters (Fen Country)
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Join us on a quiet night of summer rain as we listen to rooks and explore the beauty and ambiguities of two liminal places with a lot in common. We learn about the web-footed fenmen and are guided by Luke Sherlock to a ruined church under haunting skies.
Journal entry:
6th June, Friday
“We walk through the sheep field
As the rain pours down.
My boot socks still wet from last night.
The rooks muster noisily at the One Oak.
Even th...
Erica's Place
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Welcome to tonight’s episode where ‘Erica’s Place’ by Mindshambles awakens a kaleidoscope of reminiscences about Mum and ‘elevensies’ and her never ending supply of fresh scones. As the different memories flow and glide past, it slowly becomes clear how much of ‘Erica’s place’ and Mum’s philosophy still lives on and unconsciously shapes these podcasts. Welcome to Erica's place.
Journal entry:
20th May, Tuesday
“The yellow flag are out.
Unfolding the origami of their petals
From the squashed chrysalis of their buds.
Yellow i...
A Totally Worthwhile Risk - 4
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Tonight, we float upon a starfield of hawthorn blossom under a waxing moon. Why not join us as we continue with the final part of Mum’s account of the ‘totally worthwhile risk that was never regretted.’
Journal entry:
9th May, Friday
“A westering sun
Lays long shadows across
The towpath and canal.
Two geese in a field
watch me from across the water.
A pheasant’s rasp
The scent of may.”
Episode Information:
In this ep...
A Totally Worthwhile Risk - 3
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Join us tonight under a waning April moon as we think about the local ducks preparing for the ‘long sit’ and hear more about what happened to Mum and Dad after they had landed in Canada to start a new life together.
Journal entry:
25th April, Friday.
“Down in the engine bay
De-rusting for painting.
I am once more a clumsy adolescent.
My feet grow too large and my knees
and elbows get in the way.
I no longer can bend...
A Totally Worthwhile Risk - 2
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Tonight, clouds build as the high pressure breaks. Speculative gusts of wind kick blackthorn blossom ghostly white along the towpath and the full moon seeps heavy and watery through a blanket of cloud. Join us tonight as we continue hearing Mum's account of a risk that was totally worth taking.
Journal entry:
7th April, Monday
“Warm snowflakes
Of blackthorn float and drift
Along the towpath
Among cowslip yellow
And bluebell blue.
The sheep are loathe
To move, preferring to lie
A Totally Worthwhile Risk - 1
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It's a spring, moonless night - not quite 'Bible black', but nearly! It's a perfect night for stories. Why not join us to hear the first part of Mum’s account of their great adventure when, 68 years ago, almost to the day, Mum and Dad embarked on a totally new phase of their lives.
Journal entry:
26th March, Wednesday
“The ash are heavy with bud
Blistered garnet, raspberry-
Shaped jewels
That glow warmly in
The low sunshine
That picks out the
Slow...
Cloud Herder (Won't you spin us one last story?)
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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...
On the Leading Edge of Spring
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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.”
Episod...
Winter Readings ('The Great Frost of 1895' and 'Day of the 'Iceberg'')
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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...
Orion Still Looks Down (On the land my shadow knows)
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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
Rutte...
The Changes that Come
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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 m...
Wrapped in Freezing Fog
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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...
Into the Silence (The Undreaming)
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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 rave...
Practically Speaking (Listeners' questions - 7)
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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...
Winter's Whispers (The wisdom of the long nights)
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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 b...
The Days of No Shadow (... and then a deer barked)
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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...
"Stretched into Tales that Leave a Mark"
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Two rather wonderful things have happened recently that has prompted this episode to take a reflective look back at this podcast and the journey we have taken together. Join us tonight on NB Erica as we celebrate sharing these night-times on still waters.
Journal entry:
31st October, Thursday, Samhain – All Hallow’s Eve
“Still air.
Wood smoke blends with night mist.
A tawny’s call shivers
Across the fields to the south.
I pass a couple of boats
With pumpkin jack...
The Long Village (Villages and tribes)
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Tonight, we are hunkered down awaiting another storm. So, come and join us for a cosy night as we reflect on the fairly unique nature of canal-life and the community that it supports, with thanks to Wayne (NB Spudley) for drawing attention to a great new canal-based charity and some wise words from Rich (by Bike & Boat).
Journal entry:
16th October, Wednesday
“October drips onwards.
The towpath washed with mud
And brushed silvers
Wet with fallen leaf
And windfall twigs
Gre...
A Touch of Autumn (Apple picking time)
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Join us on the narrowboat Erica on a moonless, star-filled night as we celebrate autumns, real and imagined, present and remembered. Although October (at the moment) is far from 'golden', it is apple picking time mem ries of which take us meandering down the wandering paths of my childhood.
Journal entry:
3rd October, Thursday
“Afterglow of sunlight
Ash etched into ice blue
Overseen by a watching rook.
Smoke curls
Listless on no wind.
Cabin lights call me home.”
Epi...
The Consolation of Ducks
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Did you know that ducks participate in ‘coordinated loafing’? But that might not be the only surprising/endearing thing about them. Tonight, we celebrate the joy ducks bring thanks to video posted by a stranger in Canada.
Journal entry:
20th September, Friday
“Hanging at the still-point between
Summer and winter’s
Swing and counter-swing.
Rooks roister joyously westwards,
Red with promise.
Above them, fourteen successive
Straggles of geese
Head eastwards
Flying on swift wingbeats
Against the grain of the...
It turned a bit wet (Afloat in Hiroshige's rain storm)
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Join us tonight as Erica a wends ‘snailward’ home through a heavy rain storm - recorded, aptly enough, during another heavy rain storm! Hear also about our adventures with a drowning pigeon.
Journal entry:
3rd September, Tuesday
“Cruising through a Hiroshige
Woodblock print;
Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge.
Even the reeds look like bamboo.
A heron pilots us home.”
Episode Information:
During this episode I read a short poem by Issa and re...
Shot through with wonder (First glimpse of the sea)
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Traditionally, August has been the time for Britons to head off to the seaside for their annual holiday. This week’s episode celebrates this custom and causes me to reconsider the momentous moment when I saw the sea for the first time.
Journal entry:
23rd August, Friday
“All night the winds blew;
Battering and hooliganing
Around the boat.
Perhaps that’s why I woke
In a disquieted mood.
I stand on the bank
And feel my feet set squarely
...
Holiday Interlude (& the Cap'n's Dad)
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We’re on HOLIDAY! And so, a rather truncated and spur of the moment podcast tonight. However, join us as we enjoy a spot of tranquillity canal-style. We also hear a lovely story from one of our long-time listeners and lock-wheelers.
Journal entry:
25th July, Thursday
“The sun flashes off the canal
in a shimmering dance of light.
Sweet fruit hang amid
The dappled leaves and butterflies,
Rotting on the higher branches.
We below them look up
Rueing such waste...
Meursault's Walk & Mine (Dad's ashes)
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Join me tonight as I recount a strange and rather unnerving experience that I had just over a week ago, of feeling as if I were walking in the footsteps of Meursault, the main character of one of my favourite books, Albert Camus’ The Outsider.
Please note that this episode contains themes relating to death and cremation.
Journal entry:
25th July, Thursday
“First light of iron and steel.
A mist of rain
On the back of
A wind from the south.<...
Spun by Wonderment (above Hemel Hempstead)
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There are times that can touch us deeply. Very often they are not about finding a place of peace or somewhere outstandingly beautiful. It is something else. Something beyond these things. It is about encountering something wonderful, and being spun by wonderment.
Join us tonight as we recover from dragging a very smelly and wet dog out of the canal!
Journal entry:
13th July, Saturday
“Loosestrife sets alight
The greyness of the day
With purple fire.
Chiff chaff squeak
Like rus...
Living inside the Seasons
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This episode was inspired by a sentence in Beth Kempton's Wabi Sabi and explores how calendars can connect us more closely to the world around us. Join us tonight as we explore the year through the eyes of some Japanese poets and celebrate the unfolding of the summer.
Journal entry:
25th June, Tuesday
“First day this summer
Of real heat.
All day, my shirt has stuck
To my back.
This evening
The clover field
Hums with
The w...
The Children of the Children of Lir
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Join us on a wet and windy night as, tonight, we listen the strange and untameable tale of Fionnghuala, Oadh, Fiacra and Conn, the children of Lir, and meet up with our own (children of the) children of Lir who share their own wild mythologies.
I also give an explanatory statement about the YouTube podcast channel.
Journal entry:
11th June, Tuesday
“Standing knee deep
In a green ocean of grass.
The woodpecker’s
Seagull laughter
Tumbles among the trees below.
A Sunday Morning in May
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Sometimes episodes have a mind of their own and take you to unplanned places they think you need to go. This is one of those episodes. One ‘soft’ Sunday morning in May in John Clare country.
Journal entry:
31st May, Friday
“Standing looking south-west
Across the vale.
Four ducks circle above the water.
Then swoop down and land in unison.
The fields and hills in the distance
Fade into soft light.”
Episode Information:
In this e...
First Impressions (On canal life)
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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 p...
The Dusts of Winter (Spring Cleaning)
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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:
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 preh...
Just shadows on a summer lawn
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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 da...
On Surveys and Winter Warmth (Listeners' questions - 6)
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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 woods...
Walking Home (In fading light)
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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
And Benedictine flint and brickwork.
The hub...
Rough Crossings
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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.
