Nighttime on Still Waters – Details, episodes & analysis

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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
 On the towpath.
 Each morning, a raven rows his way
 Across the sky, from east to west.”

Episode Information:

In this episode I read Mind Shamble’s poem ‘Over Steam (Spring 2021)’ and read excerpts from John Betjeman’s poems, ‘Seaside Golf’, ‘Trebetherick’, and ‘Greenaway.’ I also refer to the song ‘Morningtown Ride’ by M. Reynolds and sung by The Seekers. 

With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.

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

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.social
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com 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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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 and decay;
 Sweetness lost to the wasps.

But for the bottle green beetle
 There is no decay, only ripeness
 And life.  

For the plum tree,
 There is no loss, no waste,
 Just the culmination
 Of a winter’s worth of survival
 During the long cold of
 Darkened days.

My world must seem so
 Totally incomprehensible
 To them.” 

Episode Information:

In this episode I recommend Wes and Amy’s vlog: Boat Time.   

With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.

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

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.social
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com 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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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
 Crosses my path, head high,
 And is lost along the towpath.

þæs ofereode,
 þisses swa mæg 
(That passed over…
so may this)

Episode Information:

In this episode I refer to Miles Hadfield’s (1950) English Almanac and Eleanor Parker’s (2022) Winters in the World. I also read a verse from John Clare’s ‘Last of March written at Lolham Briggs.’ 

With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.

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

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.social
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com 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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Living on a boat has meant that we have had to make some difficult decisions about which books come with us onboard. Tonight, I introduce to you one of my most favourite friends on our bookshelf – the collected poems of Dylan Thomas – and explore why he holds such an important place in my life.  

Journal entry:

“26h January, Wednesday.

A magpie on the top most branch rattles its greetings to the blurred dawn. 
 A blackbird calls. 
 The day begins with a bruised sky and bird song.”

Episode Information

If you are on Twitter, you can follow and watch ‘A Minutes Peace’ by clicking on https://twitter.com/minutes_peace. You can also watch them on Colin’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/colsey2003ify/videos  

In this episode I read extracts from:

Matt Gaw’s informative and touchingly evocative exploration of darkness and the night in his (2020) Under the Stars: A journey into light published by Elliott and Thompson.  

The following poems by Dylan Thomas:

‘The force that through green fuse drives the flower’
‘Lament’
‘Fern Hill’
‘Poem in October’

The episode concludes with a complete reading of his ‘In my craft or sullen art’.

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. It will also allow you to become more a part of the podcast and you can leave comments, offer suggestions, and reviews. You can even, if you want, leave me a voice mail by clicking on the microphone icon. 

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.

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

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.social
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com 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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As we begin to enter the depths of winter, this episode celebrates with a soundscape of winter at the moorings that tries to capture the life and energy of this season.  

Journal entry:

“18h January, Tuesday.

A rich winter moon hangs between the branches of the ash. 
 Beneath a sky veiled in ice, sheep 
 The colour of worn lead face the first glow of dawn.

Penny picks up the scent of rabbits
 We walk together on crystals and silence."

Episode Information

All audio used for this soundscape was recorded on site.  

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. It will also allow you to become more a part of the podcast and you can leave comments, offer suggestions, and reviews. You can even, if you want, leave me a voice mail by clicking on the microphone icon. 

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. 

Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoswPod

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message using the voicemail facility by cli

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

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.social
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com 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 a text

The remnants of two days of murk still cling to the hedgerows and trees as you join us tonight on the narrowboat Erica. A very slow thaw is polishing the dulled surface of the water making reflected lights once again dance with life. Curl up and let’s enjoy those little shards of distant memories that still colour out present and fill us with such powerful emotions.  

Journal entry:

“12th January, Wednesday.

This morning the canal looks sluggish and dark.
 Two rooks throw calls against the marble sky.
 Beyond the horizon a pheasant startles a distant wood.
 Penny stands and waits for her friends.
 My fingers and toes burn."

 Episode Information

In this episode I refer to Dru Marland’s ‘Canal Ice Scale’ chart. You can buy it as a postcard at her etsy ‘shop’ here: Canal Ice Scale Chart. More of her terrific work (including her wonderful 2022 calendar – which is selling very fast!) can be seen here: Dru Marland. 

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. It will also allow you to become more a part of the podcast and you can leave comments, offer suggestions, and reviews. You can even, if you want, leave me a voice mail by clicking on the microphone icon. 

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. 

Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at https://www.faceboo

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

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.social
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com 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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Join us on NB Erica on a blustery January night. The cold Wolf Moon is nearing its first quarter and the stars glitter like ice. After an unexpected delayed start to the New Year, we are back on air and with some exciting(-ish) news to tell you. 

Journal entry:

“2nd January, Sunday.

Hello New Year - this is me. You seem so big and dark and unknown, but I have known your brothers and sisters and I have learnt to revel in the days of their sunshine and find their special beauties under skies of steel and water. I have some very special friends - so please treat them gently. As for me, I stand here, as I always do, with my pockets full of fear, but also that flutter of hope and excitement which must be your special gift to me. It is raining now, but your sun will soon come, and larks will sweep the skies. Welcome."

Episode Information

You can go to the brand new Nighttime on Still Waters website by going to: noswpod.com. Here you will find photographs and information relating to the podcast and individual episodes. Among other things, you can read and see photographs of our early life on the canal as well as see behind the scenes of the podcasts and an explanation of the terms used in the Weather Log. 

I finish with the poem ‘Invitation’ by Mary Oliver (2013) from her book A Thousand Mornings published by Penguin.  

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. It will also allow you to become more a part of the podcast and you can leave comments, offer suggestions, and reviews. You can even, if you want, leave me a voice mail by clicking on the microphone icon. 

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, Che

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

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.social
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com 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 a text

Curl up with us for this very special Christmas Eve edition of the podcast. Whether you are feeling on your own or just in need of a bit of a breathing space, why not join me tonight for this special Jólabókaflóð inspired edition of Nighttime on Still Water’s? Although the weather may be closer to Greg Lake’s “veil of tears for the virgin birth”, there will always the possibility for “eyes filled with tinsel and fire.”

Journal entry:

“24th December, Friday. Christmas Eve

Yesterday
 Four cormorants swung low out of the mist.
 Unlike ducks, geese and swans
 Or the parrying cries of the corvids
 They were silent. 
 Dark shapes swimming through the dripping air. 

All the haws were encased in perfect globes of water. 

Days wrapped in mist hold their own special beauty.”

Episode Information

In this episode I read excerpts from:

Dylan Thomas (1954) ‘Memories of Christmas’ from Quite Early One Morning published by J.M. Dent. Everyman’s Library.

Laurie Lee (2015) ‘Village Christmas’ from his Village Christmas and Other Notes on the English Year, published by Penguin. Modern Classics. 

Lucy M. Boston (2000) The Children of Green Knowe published by Faber.

Susan Cooper (2019) The Dark is Rising published by Penguin. Puffin Books

For the episode featuring Lucy M. Boston’s River at Green Knowe where you can find more information about her books and the actual house of Green Knowe (well worth a visit) – Episode 39: Summer Readings 3. 

For more information about the Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflóð – Jolabokaflod: Founding Story

General Details

In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and ava

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

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.social
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com 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 a text

As tonight’s full moon is shrouded by the fog that rolls down the hill and curls and drifts upon the water join us aboard the NB Erica as we fall once more in love with the commonplace and overlooked things. The hill may not be named, or even be awarded a contour of its own, but it nevertheless is the place of gentle and unremarkable miracles. 

Journal entry:

“17th December, Friday

It didn’t take long
     For those three years of growth
          To lie cut upon the ground.

Penny sniffs the torn and broken stems.
     I step over teasel heads
            Trodden into the mud. “

Episode Information

In this episode I read:

Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem ‘Pied Beauty’ from Poems and Prose published by Penguin Classics (1985).

Tim Hennen’s (2013) ‘What the Plants Say’ from his Darkness Sticks to Everything published by Copper Canyon Press. 

I also read a quotation from Arthur Machen’s (1924) The London Adventure: Or the art of wandering. Republished by Tartrus Press. 

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. 

Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoswPod

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com

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

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.social
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com 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 a text

Following the epic weather of the past few weeks, we go back in time to a period that best celebrated this type of weather. In this episode we explore why the enigmatic appeal of Anglo-Saxon poetry and its fascination (or even obsession) with winter casts such an enduring influence on our culture. It is the perfect type of literature for cold winter nights, but there are also other deeper traits that remain deeply rooted in our shared cultural memories that inform our attitudes to winter.    

Journal entry:

“8th December, Wednesday

Storm Barra is barrelling around the boat
    Harrying and jostling us,
     So that the roaring world tips and sways.

The darkness is flecked silver with rain
      As Penny and I walk into a howling dawn. “

Episode Information

In this episode I mention the following books:

Michael Alexander’s (2006) The Earliest English Poems Penguin Classics series, published by Penguin Books.

Alexandra Harris’ (2015) Weatherland: Writers and artists under English skies published by Thames and Hudson. 

I read excerpts from the following poems (Michael Alexander’s translations):

The Ruin (alternative translation)

The Seafarer

Exeter riddle 73 (other texts count it as 74) 

For those wanting to explore the world of Anglo Saxon and Old English literature, you might find this website, created by Dr Aaron Hostetter from Rutgers University, very helpful: An Old English Poetry Project.

A digital version of the Exeter Book produced c.970 (in which the above are featured) can be viewed here: Exeter Book

I also mentioned Andy Grifee’s narrowboat-based crime series featuring

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

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.social
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com 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.