Nights by firelight and owl song
Oct. 17, 2021

Worlds Turning Gold

Although the trees and hedgerows here are still holding on to their greens, further afield their transformation into golds and yellows and reds is unmistakable. This time of year never fails to trigger a memory of a young couple I once saw in a park in the middle of England who were entering a world that was turning to gold.     

Journal entry:

“16th October, Saturday

7 degrees and the dawn is still an hour away.
 Flecks of dew on Penny’s nose. Not a breath of wind. The still air carries distant sounds closer: The jagged gash of the A46; airliners chasing each other to shiny, antiseptic, unwelcoming terminals and grim-eyed immigration clerks. 

Closer by, nothing stirs. Silence.

7 degrees and the sky is washed with 50 shades of mauve. Clouds, like bruises, swim across an alien sky.

The hedges chink with blackbirds’ alarms.
 A solitary raven cronks on big, ragged wings. Crows call back.
 The pillowy boulders of sheep lying in the tall grass do not move as we pass.

Our shadows grow black as the sun climbs.
 and it is still 7 degrees.”                

Episode Information

In this episode I mention the work of the artist Pete Tuffrey. You can see his work, and his painting ‘Gales in Viking’ (and his newer painting ‘Lessening’ which came out after this recording) by going to his Facebook page or Twitter account

General Details

In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.

Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence. 

Piano interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.

All other audio recorded on site. 

Contact
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I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com

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