WORDS once SPOKEN now CAPTURED
Dec. 15, 2024
Practically Speaking (Listeners' questions - 7)
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 en…
Dec. 1, 2024
Winter's Whispers (The wisdom of the long nights)
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…
Nov. 17, 2024
The Days of No Shadow (... and then a deer barked)
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…
Nov. 3, 2024
"Stretched into Tales that Leave a Mark"
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 essa…
Oct. 20, 2024
The Long Village (Villages and tribes)
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…
Oct. 6, 2024
A Touch of Autumn (Apple picking time)
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 t…
Sept. 22, 2024
The Consolation of Ducks
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 strange…
Sept. 8, 2024
It turned a bit wet (Afloat in Hiroshige's rain storm)
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, Tu…
Aug. 25, 2024
Shot through with wonder (First glimpse of the sea)
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 …
Aug. 11, 2024
Holiday Interlude (& the Cap'n's Dad)
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-w…
July 28, 2024
Meursault's Walk & Mine (Dad's ashes)
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 C…
July 14, 2024
Spun by Wonderment (above Hemel Hempstead)
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 w…
June 30, 2024
Living inside the Seasons
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 poet…
June 16, 2024
The Children of the Children of Lir
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 o…
June 2, 2024
A Sunday Morning in May
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 …
May 12, 2024
First Impressions (On canal life)
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 . Journ…
April 28, 2024
The Dusts of Winter (Spring Cleaning)
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 . Journ…
April 14, 2024
Just shadows on a summer lawn
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 foll…
March 10, 2024
On Surveys and Winter Warmth (Listeners' questions - 6)
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 na…
March 3, 2024
Walking Home (In fading light)
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 …
Feb. 18, 2024
Rough Crossings
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. Jour…
Jan. 17, 2024
I Felt the Anchor Shift (An Update)
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 quie…
Dec. 23, 2023
The Christmas Eves of Childhood
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 tu…
Dec. 17, 2023
Afloat with Maggie (Listeners' questions - 5)
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 …