Boat Life Episodes

Against all odds, this episode comes a little out of time! Events have conspired resulting in a slightly truncated episode recorded in the afternoon!! Nevertheless, duck chatter and babies (with a little help from John Moriarty) help us to find a path through the tangled thickets that many of us are possibly facing. Journal entry: “10th November, Wednesday A light mist, like smoke, has begun to sweep down the hill turning fields and woods to smudgy greys. Scattered across the gentle curve of ...

When I meet people who listen to this podcast, one of the most frequently mentioned features is the inclusion of the weather log with which I end each episode. This week I talk about what inspired it, one of which is my childhood love of the BBC’s Shipping Forecast. What makes these stark lists of climatic data ring so powerfully in our minds? Journal entry: “8th October, Friday Laundry-water coloured skies Heavy dews Clumps of willow-herb hang like desolate sodden paper tissues. The sock on...

This has been a week of blustery winds and storms. Perfect weather for the wild choreographies of the rooks jousting on the wind. The devil has spat upon the blackberries and we (rather hurriedly) mark our first birthday – this podcast is one year old! Journal entry: “2nd October, Saturday Below a thrown scatter of rooks South-westerly gusts kick up leaves not yet ready to drop. Rains seeps into the cuffs of my coat Autumn glory.” Episode Information In this episode I refer to: John Mazlu...

This week we catch up with news of our little swan family and explore the strange word ‘gongoozler’. What does it mean? Where does it come from? In some ways it functions as a shibboleth. Its use identifying the ‘true’ canal people from those outside the community. However, it also shines a light on tensions of modern day living. Journal entry: “15th September, Wednesday Dawn filled with the scent of autumn notes. Rooks stream like smoke or falling leaves Across the ragged sky Haunted by gees...

Join me tonight on a journey on the dark waters of Shrewley Tunnel. In this episode we travel not just through the tunnel but also through history and try to capture the life of those who worked the canals by physically 'legging' boats through. Journal entry: “12th September, Friday Having Brunch at the Gongoozler’s Rest Café. The smell of wet earth and fallen apples A frisson of rain among rowan leaves Scarlet berries decorating the ground. A sleepy wasp crawls over my hand. I can feel its ...

Under the poplars beside milepost 16 is a place of enchantment and quiet sanctuary, particularly in times of broiling heat. Join me in tonight’s episode as revel in its soundscape and its dappled beauty as we explore its very particular genius loci. You can also hear about the saga concerning our little swan family and what happened this week to their young cygnet (happy ending). Journal entry: “11th August, Wednesday Geese calls across the dawn skies Haunting echelons Black against grey. Ro...

The hot weather has broken with rain and slab-like grey/white skies. While we wait for the sun’s return, it’s probably a good time to remember those lazy sunny days of long ago (and not so long ago). In this week’s episode we explore the sounds of canals in summer from bees to lock sluices and enjoy the words of John Betjeman and E Temple Thurston. We also discover the meaning of the word 'haysel'. Journal entry: “16th June, Wednesday The summer heat has come, dustily settling across the fiel...

This week the rains swept in pushed by great fronts of ocean air – moisture from places with magical names that I hear on the shipping forecast and can only imagine. Life around progressed without a murmur and the ground drank heavily. In this episode we listen to the rain and to Thomas Merton. We also thinking about casting clouts and what that might mean. Journal entry: “7th May, Friday It was -1⁰ when I got up this morning. The sky was lightening in the east and the trees and hedgerows, b...

Back where we belong. Under an old ash tree and a full April moon. After nearly five months of restricted movements, we’re back home, out on the canal! Join us as we stop over at one of our most favourite places to tie up for the night. The sun is warm, the air is soft, and the moon is big. Journal entry: “23rd April, Thursday. Sitting up here on the roof of Erica I am surrounded by warmth and the sounds of life. The water beneath my feet shifts in tessellating patterns of light; It is the ta...

Boat blacking is when the hull of a boat is painted or sprayed with a protective – usually bitumen-based – paint to help minimise corrosion of the steel hull. For painted blacking, it is a process that occurs every 2 to 3 years. This week it was NB Erica’s turn for blacking, a time of convergence between ‘canal time’ and ‘land time.’ Journal entry: “10th April, Saturday. I’ll show you something wonderful. - Go through the little swing gate in front of you. Keep straight on. Go through the nex...

These are the days of swan nests and duck eggs, but the call of a lone swan circling overhead, perhaps captures more precisely the tensions we feel moving through the seasons. The seasonal shifts in the activity of the swans and ducks are becoming increasingly visible reflecting the wider patterns of movement. Boats leaving and others moving in. Everything is in a state of transition; we are all in a state of transition. Journal entry: “13th March, Saturday. Sitting here in the well deck, at ...

Tonight, the NB Erica is locked in ice. There’s a wolfish southeaster blowing and the night is filled with rasping creaks and groans. There are times when the ice sings. Acoustic lightning flashes that dart across the frozen water surface. Journal entry: “9th February, Tuesday. Last night’s snow low uneasily on the ground, like a miser’s blanket, threadbare and uneven. But it’s enough to see the lacework of indistinct and broken-formed tracks of night-time life. For once, I can see what Penny...

One of the first things you will experience when you cast off onto the waterways is, what is sometimes referred to as, ‘canal time.’ What is canal time and how is it different to land time? Canal time functions not so much as a marker for time passing as a recognition of the many streams of timelines of things and lives that fall outside the sphere of human control. However, there is also a deep irony about it too... Journal entry: “3rd February, Wednesday. This morning the tangled thicket by...

This week the first proper snow of the winter fell. For a while, our world was transformed. If you love snow, a boat is the perfect place to enjoy it. If you hate snow, a boat is the perfect place to escape it! Journal entry: “29th January Friday. The last couple of mornings have smelt fresh. The trees bordering the canal sharp with bird song, not just the aural darts of warning calls but flowing rivers of melody entwined on the wind. Below our feet, last summer’s oak leaves swim the flooded...

Another January storm has passed over us. But, tonight we have a stock of gingernut biscuits and the knowledge that each day the daylight gets longer and the spring is coming. In this episode, with its usual sprinkling weather lore, we answer some more questions about the canals – principally – how deep are they? It is a subject that I have first-hand knowledge about! Journal entry: “21st January Thursday. Waxing moon in a Russian sky. A flight of gulls high, in clear air. Turned into golden ...

What is it like to be on a narrowboat in the grip of a winter’s cold spell? How do you keep warm on a boat? Living and working on the canal systems in winter has been notoriously difficult and hard. In this episode we reflect on what it entails to live on the canals in winter today. We also hear a piece of Victorian reportage by a journalist travelling on the Grand Union Junction flyboat, Stourport, in the late 1850s. We also find out why liveaboard boaters could be viewed as ‘floating hobbits....

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, 31st December Thursday. Another frosty and icy start. This morning, in the dark as I got off the boat, I heard the i...

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's episode, I read an extract from her writings in which she describes the winter of 1962/63. Journal entry: “16th...

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 skies. My breath is silver fire. My fingers burn deep in the my pockets. The rooks are no longer visible among the b...

‘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 faded sky. Clawed branches tangle in the dawn light. The cormorant is back, Pterodactyl winged, oily slick. A univers...

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 entry: “7th November, Saturday. A quick silver moon ghosting through a glistening night, caught in the branches of the old elm tree w...

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. The oaks on the skyline still hold on to their full summer shapes even though the ground is a patchwork of sodden leaves. Three Shetland...

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 world. The hedges are garlanded with crimson, rosehip lanterns and bryony’s poisonous fire. The air is filled with th...

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 thing I have noticed is how our nearby ducks call out to each other in the night and in this episode I explore that commo...