Nighttime on Still Waters

Send us Fan Mail For most people, 2020 has been a stressful year of frustration, disappointment, fear and anxiety. It is not surprising that we look forward to welcoming in 2021. Join me on Narrowboat 506812 as we reflect on the significance of new beginnings (no matter how arbitrary), and the importance of having opportunities to re-evaluate and reset our lives.   Journal entry : “New Year’s Eve,...

Send us Fan Mail A chance to say to you Merry Christmas. This episode celebrates a Christmas Eve that is different and yet, in a number of important ways very similar to those our ancestors experienced.   Journal entry : “Christmas Eve 24th December, Thursday. Last night’s storms have swept the sky clear. The on-coming tide of sunlight washes the eastern horizon the colour of blood oranges.  This...

Send us Fan Mail A first-hand account remembering life aboard a small boat with a small family during the harsh winter of 1962/3. The time we lived on the Kathy were always very precious to Mum and she later wrote about them. Her writings evocatively describe life-aboard at a time when the canals were beginning to transition from working to increasingly residential and leisure use.  In this week&a...

Send us Fan Mail Why is the swan an oxymoron and if it is so unlucky to kill a swan why are there so many recipes for them? In this episode we reflect on the place of the swan within its natural and cultural environments. Lockdown and being located within ‘Tier 3’ has meant that we have been more static this autumn and winter than we had previously intended. However, the positive side of this is t...

Send us Fan Mail The temperature is just above freezing and the ground is slick with mud. Join me tonight for a night-walk to Bearley (Odd) lock to see what sounds we can hear and feel the quiet stillness of the canal in the depths of winter’s night.  Journal entry : “2nd December, Wednesday. The swan is back. Its serpentine reflection ghosts the water. I indulge myself that it is the same juvenil...

Send us Fan Mail As the weather gets increasingly wintery and frosts burn the air, we look at the waterways and the practicalities of boating. How do you turn a 58ft boat in a narrow canal? Can you boat through the night? What happens to the canals during the winter? Journal entry : “27th November, Friday. It would have been Mum’s birthday today. And there’s a November moon sailing in November ski...

Send us Fan Mail ‘The cut’ is one of the old vernacular names given to the canal. It was the one most of us used during my childhood. The name reminds us of its history and construction. This episode explores the strange and sometimes ambivalent place that canals inhabit within our natural and cultural environments. Journal entry : “14th November, Saturday. Charcoal sketched tree against a rain fa...

Send us Fan Mail The UK enters its second lockdown. Movement on the waterways is once again restricted to 'essential needs only.'  It's the same, but different. This episode reflects on this and what it can teach us about ourselves. There is also more on the language and terms used by the original working boatmen and why to call a boatman ‘a sailor’ was the highest insult.  Journal...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we walk through NB Erica and answer some of your questions about life aboard a narrowboat. We touch on the vexed question of whether it is 'port and starboard' or 'left and right', and we learn about tumblehome.  Journal entry  “28th October, Wednesday.  Yesterday. More rain. Damp clings to the air. The sky is filled with greys and Prussian blue...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we explore the history of NB 506812 before she became our home and meet the Erica behind the Erica. Journal entry:  “16th October, Friday. The canal continues to thread its silent way through autumn. There’s a hint now of mist on colder dawns. Today, it lies still and steely. Penny trots ahead, tail up, relaxed, contentedly sniffing the trail and foil of the unseen...

Send us Fan Mail Join me on the first Nighttime on Still Waters podcast. It is really a getting to know you podcast where I introduce you to the Erica 58ft narrowboat and this is the beginning of our audio journal about our life aboard and the changes and shifts we encounter following our move from land to water. These nighttime reflections draw upon our experiences and on life in general. On thin...