Nighttime on Still Waters

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Any boater who is faced with the prospect of numerous locks ahead will know how wonderful it is to find someone who is prepared to take on ‘lock-wheeling’ duties. This episode takes some time out to reflect on the podcast as well as explore the many listeners who have become tireless lock-wheelers for it.

Journal entry:

10th February, Friday

“Ice skates lines across the water.
A thin brittle veneer that cannot hold
The oak’s reflection.

The morning sun sets fire to the reeds.
I am dazzled by their flame.
My own, canal-side, burning bush,
Sans angel.”

Episode Information:

If you want to become a lock-wheeler for Nighttime on Still Waters or would like to know more about it, you can find more information here: ‘Lock-wheeling’ for Nighttime on Still Waters.

In this episode I refer to the work of Tim Dee. He discusses ‘Adam’s curse’ in his book The Running Sky published in 2009 by Penguin Books.

For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com. It will also allow you to become more a part of the podcast and you can leave comments, offer suggestions, and reviews. You can even, if you want, leave me a voice mail by clicking on the microphone icon.

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 and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.

All other audio recorded on site.

Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at

Support the show

Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoswPod
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.

Send us a text

“It is no small gift” wrote the poet Mary Oliver about the joy a dog brings into our lives. .

Journal entry:

“It is no small gift” wrote the poet Mary Oliver about the joy a dog brings into our lives. In the week that we had to say goodbye to Penny, we remember the many gifts this timid lttle whirlwind brought into our lives and made them so much richer. We also explore why so many of us find grieving for a pet so difficult.
5th April, Tuesday

"The trees are still here;
Broken reflections crookedly oiling
the surface of the canal.

And the blackbird still sings
his river of song from his alder tower.
The sun, when it appears,
still shines its green spring warmth.

But I stand, incomplete, without a shadow...

No, that is not how it feels.
It’s is as if I have found that I am just a shadow, thin and grey,
cast adrift on the dried mud and fallen twigs.
No longer tethered to the warmth of a living soul."

Episode Information:

Please go to noswpod.com for photographs of Penny.
In this episode I read a couple of short extracts from Mary Oliver’s short essay ‘Dog Talk’ published in her book Dog Songs (2013 and 2021) published by Hachett UK.

I also refer to Guy Winch’s article ‘Why We Need to Take Pet Loss Seriously’ from the Scientific American (May, 2018).

For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com. It will also allow you to become more a part of the podcast and you can leave comments, offer suggestions, and reviews. You can even, if you want, leave me a voice mail by clicking on the microphone

Support the show

Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoswPod
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.

Send us a text

This week we have been joined by a solitary stranger from the north. Probably blown south-west on last week’s northerly storm winds a wigeon has arrived. The appearance of this diminutive figure prompts us to find out a little more about this little duck and we discover his place in the legend of the Seven Whistlers and its association with the end of the world (but, perhaps, not as we know it).

Journal entry:

“4h February, Friday.
The thermometer falls with the waking sun
and the spirit seems to shrivel with the cold.
Then the Bearley rooks take flight from their inky roost;
assured blue-black wings beat the blood-red raging dawn.
The body feels smaller;
the spirit larger.”

Episode Information:

In this episode I refer to the following books:

Edward A Armstrong's (1958) The Folklore of Birds (Collins New Naturalist Library 39) published by Collins.

BB (2008) The Naturalist’s Bedside Book published by Merlin Unwin Books.

Stefan Buczacki’s (2002) Fauna Britannica published by Hamlyn

Walter Černy’s (2000) Field Guide in Colour to British Birds published by Silverdale Books.

Rob Hume (2007) RSPB Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (revised edn.) published by Dorling Kindersley.

Recording of Wigeon calls by Stanislas Wroza on 01.01.2022 at Radonvilliers, Aube, Grand Est, France and downloaded from the xeno-canto site. Full recording details and credits:
Stanislas Wroza, XC695711. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/695711.

General Details

In the intro and the out

Support the show

Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoswPod
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.

Send us a text

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,
And is lost along the towpath.

þæs ofereode,
þisses swa mæg
(That passed over...
so may this)

Episode Information:

In this episode I refer to Miles Hadfield’s (1950) English Almanac and Eleanor Parker’s (2022) Winters in the World. I also read a verse from John Clare’s ‘Last of March written at Lolham Briggs.’

With special thanks to our lock-wheelersfor supporting this podcast.

Chris and Alan on NB Land of Green Ginger
Captain Arlo
Rebecca Russell
Allison on the narrowboat Mukka
Derek and Pauline Watts
Anna V.
Orange Cookie
Donna Kelly
Mary Keane.
Tony Rutherford.
Arabella Holzapfel.
Rory with MJ and Kayla.
Narrowboat Precious Jet.
Linda Reynolds Burkins.
Richard Noble.
Carol Ferguson.
Tracie Thomas
Mark and Tricia Stowe
Madeleine Smith

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 and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.

All other audio recorded on site.

Support the show

Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoswPod
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.

Send us a text

The hold of early summer along the canal-side grows firmer each day. However, sometimes the changes and shifts in the season can affect us in surprising and sometimes disconcerting ways. This episode reflects on the birth of the idea that would eventually become the Nighttime on Still Waters podcast, and a reflection on radio and encounters in the night-time.
Please note that this episode discusses mental health.

Journal entry:

“13th June, Saturday

The lowering sun is now caught in the feathery tops of the ash trees on the bank.
Lone islands of cloud cast adrift on a sea of blue.

The light catches the deep drifts of ox eye daisies making their white petals shine.

I sit in the dappled sunlight drinking in the cooling breeze and watch the gnats dance on wings made of silver fire.”

Episode Information

During the podcast a read a passage from Charlie Connelly's (2019) The Last Train to Hilversum: A journey in the search of the magic of radio. Bloomsbury Publishing.

I also read extracts from Seán Street’s (2013) The Poetry of Radio: The colour of sound published by Routledge

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
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Twitter:

Support the show

Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.
Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

• Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpod
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoswPod
• Mastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.
For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.