WORDS once SPOKEN now CAPTURED

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.” Epi...

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 swif...

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 f...

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 wa...

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, Cap'n Arlo. 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; Swee...

Join me tonight as I recount a strange and rather unnerving experience that I had just over a week ago, of feeling as if I were walking in the footsteps of Meursault, the main character of one of my favourite books, Albert Camus’ The Outsider. Please note that this episode contains themes relating to death and cremation. Journal entry: 25th July, Thursday “First light of iron and steel. A mist of rain On the back of A wind from the south. A raven calls from the Topmost branch of the ta...

There are times that can touch us deeply. Very often they are not about finding a place of peace or somewhere outstandingly beautiful. It is something else. Something beyond these things. It is about encountering something wonderful, and being spun by wonderment. Join us tonight as we recover from dragging a very smelly and wet dog out of the canal! Journal entry: 13th July, Saturday “Loosestrife sets alight The greyness of the day With purple fire. Chiff chaff squeak Like rusty whee...

This episode was inspired by a sentence in Beth Kempton's Wabi Sabi and explores how calendars can connect us more closely to the world around us. Join us tonight as we explore the year through the eyes of some Japanese poets and celebrate the unfolding of the summer. Journal entry: 25th June, Tuesday “First day this summer Of real heat. All day, my shirt has stuck To my back. This evening The clover field Hums with The work of bees.” Episode Information: The fire of purple lo...

Join us on a wet and windy night as, tonight, we listen the strange and untameable tale of Fionnghuala, Oadh, Fiacra and Conn, the children of Lir, and meet up with our own (children of the) children of Lir who share their own wild mythologies. I also give an explanatory statement about the YouTube podcast channel. Journal entry: 11th June, Tuesday “Standing knee deep In a green ocean of grass. The woodpecker’s Seagull laughter Tumbles among the trees below. And here am I, On a su...

Sometimes episodes have a mind of their own and take you to unplanned places they think you need to go. This is one of those episodes. One ‘soft’ Sunday morning in May in John Clare country. Journal entry: 31st May, Friday “Standing looking south-west Across the vale. Four ducks circle above the water. Then swoop down and land in unison. The fields and hills in the distance Fade into soft light.” Episode Information: Grand and unapologetic: Giant Hogweed standing tall. This is t...

In tonight’s episode we meet a couple of beautiful spring flowers with some fearsome reputations and go about spring cleaning a very messy and cluttered boat with the help of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. Journal entry: 8th May, Wednesday. “A May evening of golden haze And drifting willow down And the busy day winds down. Nearby, lambs call as mothers graze and nuzzle Beyond them, chiff-chaff, robin, and bluetit. Further distant, the sound of children playing. Beyond tha...

In tonight’s episode we meet a couple of beautiful spring flowers with some fearsome reputations and go about spring cleaning a very messy and cluttered boat with the help of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. Journal entry: 20th April, Saturday “A ring of coltsfoot heads has been placed In the crevice of an oak-beam used as a picnic table. They lie bleached and desiccated Shrouded in fine cobweb and dust. They look just like the vestige Of some prehistoric ritual. Perhaps so...

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 up to my chin. Now the sun is out And coltsfoot down dances On a warm wind.” Swan preening beside her "p...

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,...

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 February, Saturday. “Cloud cliffs, grey and climbing Early spring sunshine Catching the stonework traceries And Benedictin...

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 the gulls And the circle of two buzzards. Maggie sits, watching, From a throne of dried grass And teasels....

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 moment. Episode Information: A boat at anchor at Wells-next-the-Sea Dad with his boat Seapie exploring the ...

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: Christmas lights in the well deck Can I take this opportunity to wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and...

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. This morning, A magpie scratched Her jagged song Across the metalled dome Of first light.” Episode I...

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 pick our way Across the sheep field, December sings through the oaks.” Episode Information: The faithful Jo a...

Join us on a night when the boat is wrapped in freezin fog, but the stoves are warm and the cabin is cosy, for this week's 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 rais...

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, A train clatters it's way to Birmingham. The lit carriages flickering like A procession of glow worms Throug...

I've always felt that there is something rather singular about the month of November. Tonight I try to find out what it is and end up recounting the time when Guy Fawkes wore my old dressing gown (which might or might not have anything to do with it!). Journal entry: 8th November, Wednesday. “Look down for the healing. A reluctant dawn this morning, South wind plays with stray raindrops And birch leaves. Scars of grey paving slabs lined with green. Willowherb, spurge, dandelion. Green heal...

It’s a foul November night, so why not come and join me tonight by the glow of fire light. I have with me a lovely little book, that I found last year in a second-hand bookshop, and think that it might be perfect for a night like this. Journal entry: 1st November, Wednesday. “November is born brave This morning. The dark water is alive With movement And a scatter Of light. The walk from the boat To car Is under a starfield and A bold moon.” Episode Information: Nights by fire l...