Nighttime on Still Waters

Apr 14 2024 104

Nighttime on Still Waters Podcast artwork

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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Just shadows on a summer lawn

Apr 14 2024 19 mins

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

On Surveys and Winter Warmth (Listeners' questions - 6)

Mar 10 2024 34 mins

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-lik

Walking Home (In fading light)

Mar 03 2024 34 mins

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 Febru

Rough Crossings

Feb 18 2024 34 mins

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

I Felt the Anchor Shift (An Update)

Jan 17 2024 26 mins

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 Christmas Eves of Childhood

Dec 23 2023 30 mins

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:

Afloat with Maggie (Listeners' questions - 5)

Dec 17 2023 32 mins

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

When Mum married Dad (95th birthday edition)

Dec 10 2023 38 mins

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 pic

When Mum met Dad (95th Birthday edition)

Dec 03 2023 43 mins

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

The Battered Landscapes of our Edens

Nov 19 2023 42 mins

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