WORDS once SPOKEN now CAPTURED

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 clos...

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...

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 the magpies’ cackles...

Welcome to tonight’s episode where ‘Erica’s Place’ by Mind Shambles 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 o...

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 episode I read the first part of John Clare’s...

Join us tonight under a waning April moon as we think about the local ducks preparing for the ‘long sitting’ 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 as I once did. The march of time becomes visible In both the engine and my ...

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 On the grass Whit...

Send us a text 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 contours of the fields In barley...

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 against my face. Captivated by the golden sun Shin...

Send us a text 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 in the company of Idris Davies, Frankk Mansell, and Kenneth Grahame. 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...

Send us a text 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 for home; Roosting time. Their exubera...

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 Rutted potholes of slippery mud To the Magpie’s scaldin...

Send us a text There seems to be an awful lot 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. How do we find the stillness, the balance, within the flow of movement? To regain our balance in the tilt of change and the still-point amid the chaos. To find our place in the wilder world around us an know that we are all part of that great breathtaking murmuration that is li...

Send us a text 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 Information: The shattered glass of canal ice on ...

Send us a text 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 raven rows Swiftly aga...

Send us a text 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.” Episode Information: The "pleasing hue...

Send us a text 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 in memory of Dad who loved winter nights afloat and 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 beauty.” Episode Information: M...

Send us a text 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 the story of Blodeuwedd and Lleu suggests, 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 ...

Send us a text Two rather wonderful things have happened recently which has prompted me to take a reflective look back at this podcast and the journey we have taken together. One of these was being sent some excerpts of essays written by students who had listened to one of the podcasts (I which gave me a lot to think about), and the other was recieving a beautful poem ('The Narrowcaster') written by one of our listeners. Join us tonight on NB Erica as we celebrate sharing these night-times on st...

Send us a text 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 Greets ...

Send us a text 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.” Episode Informati...

Send us a text 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...

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: Rain on the canal An enamel Peter Storm lapel badge like the one that came free with my first cagoule Sud...

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 th...