Nighttime on Still Waters
By: Richard Goode
Language: en-gb
Categories: Society, Culture, Personal, Journals, Places, Travel, Philosophy
A narrowboat-based audio journal on canal life, living aboard, the elements, and the night. Perfect late-night listening for dreamers, insomniacs, night owls, nocturnalists, drifters, and nomads. For lovers Fagen's 'Nightfly', Auden's 'Night Mail', Hopper's 'Nighthawks' and the 'drifting sea-dark streets' of Dylan Thomas. For all those who used to listen to the transistor under your pillow, love the sound of distant trains and rain against the windowpanes, canals and drover's tracks, lost music, splashed puddles, fireflies and bats, hares by moonlight, windsong among pines, owl-light, the shipping forecast, and all the wonderful, terrifying, grand and tawdry avenues of the night...
Episodes
Canal Life (Now and Future)
Jan 11, 2026Send us a text
The failure of the Whitchurch embankment offered sobering viewing for those on and off the canal. This episode responds to listeners’ concerns and questions and then reflects on the wider implication of incidents like these on the future of life on the canals. *Spoiler -it is not all doom and gloom!*
Journal entry:
6th January, Tuesday
“Colder night
But slightly milder dawn
A few desultory snowflakes fall
Flightless feathers
With no wind
Upon which to dance
Will these smal...
Duration: 00:40:55The Remarkable Tale of Bertrum Crane (A story for Christmas)
Dec 24, 2025Send us a text
It's Christmas on the canal, and the time when we traditionally gather around by firelight and tell stories of wonder and magic. So, tonight, there is an extra specially warm welcome aboard the Erica as we turn the lights down low and listen by firelight to a rather remarkable (and I think wonderful) tale of canal-side Christmases past and the magic hidden along the towpath. Grab a mug of your favourite drink, settle into your cosiest chair and join us into the heart of a canal-side Christmas.
With special thanks...
Duration: 01:22:30An Advent on the Canal
Dec 14, 2025Send us a text
As advent candles burn into their second half, and berries blaze along the towpath, why not join us tonight aboard the Erica to hear about what it feels like to experience this advent on the cut.
Journal entry:
8th December, Monday
“A ragged river of rooks
Stream across
A watery sky
On purposeful wings.
They rise and circle
Around the One Oak.
The fire of their
Jubilant chatter
Warms the day.”
With special thanks to ou...
Duration: 00:27:38The Night Speaks with its Silences
Nov 30, 2025Send us a text
These are the days of the long nights, when ¾ of our day gives way to the dark. If we listen carefully, their gifts are rich and restoring. In these strange times we need, once more, to slow down, look up, and hear the night speak to us with its silences. Come aboard the Erica and let’s journey into the night.
Journal entry:
27th November, Thursday
"This morning,
The kingfisher wakes
To a softer, kinder day.
The willow leaf
Finds the current...
The Colour of Storms (Storm Claudia passing through)
Nov 16, 2025Send us a text
Join us tonight aboard the Erica’s warm and cosy cabin as storm Claudia rages outside. Let us experience together the intimate feeling of being snug and safe in a tiny home afloat on the storm lashed canals.
Journal entry:
14th November, Friday
“Sky of smudged greys,
Chalky, sooty, dirty laundry water,
And a light of such silvery metallics
Lead and steel, iron and zinc,
That makes the canal surface shine
And adds richness to berry and leaves.
Why is it, that...
Morton's Rise (A canal story for Halloween)
Oct 31, 2025Send us a text
Welcome to Halloween on the canal. It’s a perfect night to turn down the lights, curl up in comfy chair with a warm mug, and listen to a spooky tale. Can anyone explain what really did happen on that celebrated (or notorious) section of canal at Morton’s Rise under the glowering presence of Draid Hill?
Journal entry:
31st October, Friday (All Hallows’ Eve)
“The day grows thin
Between light and darkness
Heron spanned
Silent as owl flight
The canal listens.
A Common Thread (Sunday at the moorings)
Oct 12, 2025Send us a text
Have you ever wondered what it was like to visit a ‘moorings’ along one of Britain’s waterways and to stand and watch and listen as this small world flows to its own daily rhythms? Although every 'mooring' is different, we explore the common thread that unites them. Why not join us for a sunny autumnal Sunday and listen to the day unfold.
Journal entry:
6th October, Monday
“Wind buffets and rocks the boat
The mooring lines tighten and then slack.
Fenders creak and the cal...
That Very Particular Joy of Friday Nights (and crisps)
Sep 21, 2025Send us a text
It's a blustery, moonless, and nearly starless night tonight, with the ever-present hint of rain in the air. So, why not come aboard the Erica for a while and reminisce about inconsequential things, the joy they bring, and how they form such strong bedrocks to our lives in an unsteady world?
Journal entry:
17th September, Wednesday
“Summer has left
And strewn all along the towpath
Is the detritus of its sojourn.
Rusting wires of sorrel and dock,
Hogweed spokes like upturned
D...
Down to the River (On this blue and grey September day)
Sep 07, 2025Send us a text
Tonight, for a little while, let’s leave the sleeping canal in peace as it slowly recovers and heals after the summer long drought. Instead, let's go down to the river where the water is alive with light and chuckles and laps under rowing boats and let us see what we can see.
Journal entry:
4th September, Thursday
“Clouds pillow and pile
Black skies behind us
A fleeting sun catches
the scarlet of bryony berries
That wrap themselves around
Spiky vines of...
Under a Canopy of Trees ('Your word')
Aug 24, 2025Send us a text
A newly born moon is still below the horizon and the parched ground breathes in the quiet of a summer's night. The water levels may be low, but you're assured a welcome that is full and warm aboard the NB Erica as we catch up on life with all its ebbs and flows, and unfuriating complexities that make it all so worthwhile.
Journal entry:
18th August, Monday
“Rain in the night
Woke up to streaks on the windows.
I take the rake off the c...
Back from Blacking (And the ingenuity of drydocks)
Aug 03, 2025Send us a text
Could the humble drydock be the perfect example of canal engineering ingenuity? Find out why in our latest episode and join us back afloat onboard the Erica as we explore some surprising facts about this often-overlooked marvel.
Journal entry:
1st August, Friday (Lammas Day)
“Fields the colour of linen and calico
Under turbulent skies of heavy cloud.
As I chew on a blade of grass
The wind whips up dust devils
Across the dry, hard-baked hill.
Apples fall, half ripened.
Ha...
With Tom Rolt on the North Stratford Canal (Summer Readings)
Jul 20, 2025Send us a text
It’s been a long sweltering day. Darkness is reluctantly beginning to fall, and a restless heat lies heavy over the canal. Let's settle down and listen to some echoes from the canal-side past as we hear Tom Rolt’s account of his journey up the Stratford upon Avon Canal (North) and the ‘battle for Bridge Number 1 (Lifford Lane).'
At a time when many of us are feeling the strain of today’s network, Rolt’s account reminds us of just how far we’ve come — and of the grit and vision of t...
Duration: 00:23:51A Summer Wind among the Alders (Speaks of Lludd and Llefelys)
Jul 06, 2025Send us a text
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...
Duration: 00:52:43Unsettled at the Still-Point (Of the year)
Jun 22, 2025Send us a text
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 Inf...
Duration: 00:35:28A brooding sky and mirrored waters (Fen Country)
Jun 08, 2025Send us a text
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 th...
Duration: 00:42:32Erica's Place
May 25, 2025Send us a text
Welcome to tonight’s episode where ‘Erica’s Place’ by Mindshambles 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 of their petals
From the squashed chrysalis of their buds.
Yellow i...
Duration: 00:39:40A Totally Worthwhile Risk - 4
May 11, 2025Send us a text
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 ep...
Duration: 00:35:14A Totally Worthwhile Risk - 3
Apr 27, 2025Send us a text
Join us tonight under a waning April moon as we think about the local ducks preparing for the ‘long sit’ 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...
A Totally Worthwhile Risk - 2
Apr 13, 2025Send us a text
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
A Totally Worthwhile Risk - 1
Mar 30, 2025Send 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...
Cloud Herder (Won't you spin us one last story?)
Mar 16, 2025Send us a text
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...
On the Leading Edge of Spring
Mar 02, 2025Send 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.
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 flags.
The song of home.
Signals of transcendence.”
Episod...
Duration: 00:37:36Winter Readings ('The Great Frost of 1895' and 'Day of the 'Iceberg'')
Feb 16, 2025Send 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...
Orion Still Looks Down (On the land my shadow knows)
Feb 09, 2025Send us a text
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
Rutte...
The Changes that Come
Jan 26, 2025Send us a text
There seems to be an awful 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. Tonight, we try to find some still-points within the chaos.
Journal entry:
23rd January, Thursday
“A robin, one winter,
Riding out a sleety squall
On the flailing branch
Of pyracantha fire.
He often springs to mind
When squalls hit
And my world lurches
Fearfully beneath m...
Wrapped in Freezing Fog
Jan 12, 2025Send 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...
Duration: 00:31:11Into the Silence (The Undreaming)
Jan 04, 2025Send 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 rave...
Duration: 00:23:47Practically Speaking (Listeners' questions - 7)
Dec 15, 2024Send 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...
Winter's Whispers (The wisdom of the long nights)
Dec 01, 2024Send 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 dedicated to Dad, 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 b...
The Days of No Shadow (... and then a deer barked)
Nov 17, 2024Send 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 Blodeuwedd and Lleu indicate 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...
"Stretched into Tales that Leave a Mark"
Nov 03, 2024Send us a text
Two rather wonderful things have happened recently that has prompted this episode to take a reflective look back at this podcast and the journey we have taken together. Join us tonight on NB Erica as we celebrate sharing these night-times on still waters.
Journal entry:
31st October, Thursday, Samhain – All Hallow’s Eve
“Still air.
Wood smoke blends with night mist.
A tawny’s call shivers
Across the fields to the south.
I pass a couple of boats
With pumpkin jack...
The Long Village (Villages and tribes)
Oct 20, 2024Send 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
Gre...
A Touch of Autumn (Apple picking time)
Oct 06, 2024Send 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...
Duration: 00:36:14The Consolation of Ducks
Sep 22, 2024Send 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
Against the grain of the...
It turned a bit wet (Afloat in Hiroshige's rain storm)
Sep 08, 2024Send us a text
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:
During this episode I read a short poem by Issa and re...
Duration: 00:51:14Shot through with wonder (First glimpse of the sea)
Aug 25, 2024Send us a text
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
...
Holiday Interlude (& the Cap'n's Dad)
Aug 11, 2024Send us a text
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.
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...
Meursault's Walk & Mine (Dad's ashes)
Jul 28, 2024Send us a text
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.<...
Spun by Wonderment (above Hemel Hempstead)
Jul 14, 2024Send us a text
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 rus...
Living inside the Seasons
Jun 30, 2024Send us a text
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 w...
The Children of the Children of Lir
Jun 16, 2024Send us a text
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.
A Sunday Morning in May
Jun 02, 2024Send us a text
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:
In this e...
Duration: 00:32:34First Impressions (On canal life)
May 12, 2024Send us a text
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 p...
The Dusts of Winter (Spring Cleaning)
Apr 28, 2024Send us a text
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 preh...
Just shadows on a summer lawn
Apr 14, 2024Send us a text
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 da...
On Surveys and Winter Warmth (Listeners' questions - 6)
Mar 10, 2024Send 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 woods...
Duration: 00:34:02Walking Home (In fading light)
Mar 03, 2024Send us a text
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 Benedictine flint and brickwork.
The hub...
Duration: 00:34:14Rough Crossings
Feb 18, 2024Send us a text
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.
I Felt the Anchor Shift (An Update)
Jan 17, 2024Send us a text
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:
In...
Duration: 00:26:06The Christmas Eves of Childhood
Dec 23, 2023Send us a text
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:
Can I take this opportunity...
Duration: 00:30:51Afloat with Maggie (Listeners' questions - 5)
Dec 17, 2023Send us a text
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 do...
When Mum married Dad (95th birthday edition)
Dec 10, 2023Send us a text
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.”
When Mum met Dad (95th Birthday edition)
Dec 03, 2023Send us a text
This week is a 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 raised in a high arc
Then place it fl...
The Battered Landscapes of our Edens
Nov 19, 2023Send us a text
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
Through the hedg...
When Guy Fawkes wore my old dressing gown
Nov 12, 2023Send us a text
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.<...
November Fireside Nights
Nov 05, 2023Send us a text
It’s a foul November night, so why not come and join me aboard the Erica by the warm glow of fire light. I have with me a lovely book that I found last year in a second-hand bookshop and think that it's 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...
Autumn Forest
Oct 29, 2023Send us a text
I am not sure if it is just me, but so far autumn doesn’t feel quite so ‘autumny’ as it usually does. Therefore, I think that it is a perfect time to savour a reading from one of my most favourite childhood books, Brendon Chase by BB.
Journal entry:
26th October, Thursday.
“Darkness.
Mizzle transforms the water
Into star-fields of pinpricks of light.
Evanescent.
Like walking
Through the tangle
Of watery
Spiders’ webs.
A dance of tiny drop...
Duration: 00:35:42The Rebellious Light of Beauty (The last dandelion of summer)
Oct 22, 2023Send us a text
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the global events of the last couple of weeks. Following the battering of Storm Babet, this week’s episode offers a space for us to reflect on a world that can be often violent and far from perfect.
Journal entry:
13th October, Friday
“Battered by the winds of the world
I stop to watch the free-flight of rooks
Diving from an oak into the full force
Of a westerly gale.
Gothic wings outspread,
The...
Words & Music (Listeners' questions - 4)
Oct 15, 2023Send us a text
The temperature outside is dipping down towards zero, so join us for a cosy night by the glow of a hot stove, as we chat about two subjects close to my heart and the surprising way that living on a boat has altered my attitude to them.
Journal entry:
13th October, Friday
“Battered by the winds of the world
I stop to watch the free-flight of rooks
Diving from an oak into the full force
Of a westerly gale.
Gothic wings...
Duration: 00:32:39Swings and Roundabouts (Listeners' Questions - 3)
Oct 08, 2023Send us a text
There's an old and trustworthy adage on the canals: when two or more boaters meet up it is only a matter of time before the conversation will turn to the subject of toilets. So guess what the topic of this week's episode is?!
Journal entry:
3rd October, Tuesday
“Light fades.
Dew Falls.
Maggie follows a rabbit’s scent-trail
Through the long, wet grass.
Two rooks head east into darkness.
I struggle in the half-light
With the padlock on the gate
Under the ghost of a Harvest Moon
Oct 01, 2023Send us a text
A week of serious problems with our internet has meant that I have been unable to record the episode answering listeners’ questions. However, join us tonight to enjoy a special meeting under the ‘ghost’ of a harvest moon.
Journal entry:
29th September, Friday
“Early this morning,
We met the swan slipping
Light upon the night-time mists.
Behind us,
Cows stood knee deep
in milk- white meadows.
This is the stillness that falls
After the storm.”
Episode Info...
Duration: 00:19:45Uncertain Futures (Listeners' questions - 2)
Sep 23, 2023Send us a text
There’s a chill in the air tonight and there will be mist on the water in the morning. Join me tonight as I answer some hard questions about how viability is a long term in the Erica on the canals?
Journal entry:
21st September, Thursday
“For a short while this evening
The crescent moon and the setting sun
Shared the same length of skyline.
A fiery bronze heart and the ghost of bone.
Then a robin sings as rain drops fa...
Duration: 00:41:11'No Regrets' (Listeners' questions - 1)
Sep 17, 2023Send us a text
On a dark night that is damp with an autumnal chill, join us as tonight I answer some of the questions posed by the listeners of this podcast which range from the decisions and motivations behind our choice to live afloat to canal etiquette.
Journal entry:
14th September, Thursday
“Thin drizzle.
The jackdaws sound like
Monosyllabic gulls this evening.
Woundwort heals the breach between
The canal and me.
Red berries.
Some days that is all you need:
Rain...
Home thoughts of a Pilgrim (Chasing the wind)
Sep 10, 2023Send us a text
It's a hot sultry night in the late eve of summer. Join us tonight as we spend time with the gentle words and wisdom of a friend of mine.
Journal entry:
6th September, Wednesday
“This evening
The wool of traveller’s joy has caught afire
With the westward
Apricot sun.
And look at how the nettles glow
Translucent with the touch
Of unspeakable wonder.”
Episode Information:
In this episode I read Chasing the...
Duration: 00:32:10Roots do not hold you down (Hedge wisdom)
Sep 03, 2023Send us a text
The hedges are ablaze with colour and they call to us of lessons that we have long forgotten.
Journal entry:
2nd September, Saturday
“At the edgings of the day.
A delinquent V of geese
Transect a sinking sun.
As they reappear
Another flight has joined them.
They continue in a loose straggle
North.
A cool whisper of air
As we round the base of the hill.
Distant voices float across the water.
As the sun sinks below...
As long as the rain talks (I will listen)
Aug 27, 2023Send us a text
Rain has a quality to touch us both physically and emotionally. Thomas Merton and Tristan Gooley are two very different people, but both offer insights into the language of rain and what we can learn through listening to it.
Journal entry:
24th August, Thursday
"We drop down the hill
To field-edge and thistledown smoke.
A moorhen scatters at our approach
Leaving only a fading trace in the water.
Maggie methodically sniffs the undergrowth
While I search for gold in the clouds...
An August-coloured Evening
Aug 20, 2023Send us a text
Tonight, we celebrate and enjoy a special August evening at the moorings, filled with golden light, gentle chatter, a rolling wind, duck call and church bells. A rare ‘August-coloured’ evening.
Journal entry:
15th August, Tuesday
“Chasing clouds and sunshine.
The ground still wet from yesterday's rain
We walk the loop, Maggie reacquainting herself
With familiar places.
Me too. It seems a while.
It's good to be out again.
The air smells green and fresh."
Episode Information:
In t...
Duration: 00:29:02Adventures and Departures (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 4)
Aug 06, 2023Send us a text
Life afloat can throw up some rather singular challenges from being frozen in to sinking, running aground, being attacked by wild kittens and the dangers of runaway working boats!! Join us tonight as we ride out Storm Antoni (apologies for some background rain patter) for the concluding reading of The Kathy Chronicles, where the decision is made to leave life on the canal and embrace new adventures.
Episode Information:
You can see some family photographs from this time by going to the noswpod website.
List...
The New Baby Arrives (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 3)
Jul 30, 2023Send us a text
What was it like to give birth on small 30 ft boat in the 1960s? Mum continues her account of her life afloat on the Kathy in this week’s instalment of ‘The Kathy Chronicles’. We hear about the some of the challenges and joys of bringing up two very small children on a boat as well as Dad’s battle with the Pithers stove and a strange event that remains a mystery.
Episode Information:
You can hear earlier episodes of 'The Kathy' Chronicles here: One, Two...
Duration: 00:32:10Crochet by Lantern Light (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 2)
Jul 23, 2023Send us a text
What was it really like to live on board a 30ft canal boat in the late 1950s before there were such things as service points and fully equipped marinas?
This week we continue with ‘The Kathy Chronicles’ where Mum describes how they began to settle into life afloat, whilst making extensive alterations, as well their plans for the arrival of a new baby. She provides a fascinating picture of the realities of what it was like to live-aboard a canal boat in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Episode Informa...
Duration: 00:31:57Low along the Fox Paths
Jul 16, 2023Send us a text
It’s a wild and wet July night of wind and rain. So why not step aboard for a while as we meander down some fox trails and contemplate the pleasure of sunshine and dark skies.
Journal entry:
11th July, Tuesday
“A quarter to midnight.
Lying in bed and listening
To the drum of rain
On the cabin roof.
All day I have watched the dark
Clouds boil in the cauldron
Of the west.
Storm heads tower
In ca...
Changes (lessons from a field edge)
Jul 09, 2023Send us a text
Join us tonight on a hot sticky night of lingering light and stubborn twilight. With the summer’s tilt shifting wider and deeper changes are felt. "Life is a motion. Life is growth. It is never static," says the corner of a field.
Journal entry:
4th July, Tuesday
"Goldfinch carnival
Among the teasel heads
And early sun.
Dark clouds to the west
Bringing rain.
Spindrift of fine drizzle
Freewheels on the breeze.
The cows are in no hurry<...
Duration: 00:30:17Facing the Fears with Maggie
Jul 02, 2023Send us a text
This has been rather an unexpected and eventful week. This is a special episode where we welcome a board a new fellow traveller (along the canals and through life).
Journal entry:
30th June, Friday
“Endless motorways. Endless traffic.
Red lights all the way.
A frightened face and soulful eyes.
I sit on the stairs out of sight; out of the way.
A short drizzle of rain.
The smell of hay in fields.
Sitting as darkness falls,
My arm is li...
Five Finger Widths (above the horizon)
Jun 25, 2023Send us a text
Watching the sun sink below the horizon, particularly after long sunny days such as these, can evoke a mass of mental and emotional responses that seem to tap into something deep within us. Join us this week as week count down a setting sun and reflect on the rich culture it created.
Journal entry:
23rd June, Friday.
“The alder saplings are growing thick at the water’s edge
Vying with the green spears of teasel
And purple knapweed plumes.
This time last yea...
Duration: 00:34:53These are the Long Days (on Windmill Hill)
Jun 18, 2023Send us a text
These are the days when the nights are short and the days are long. On the cusp of the summer solstice, the year's turning reaches its zenith, join me tonight in celebrating the unique joys (and challenges) of the long days with a special visit to Windmill Hill (Grid reference SP 33 42).
Journal entry:
14th June, Wednesday
“Sun down.
A lone swan swims up the canal.
Serene strokes from strong feet.
Each ripple she makes catches fire.
The goldcrests’ chatter falls silent
And...
'A Little Clinker-Built Boat' (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 1)
Jun 11, 2023Send us a text
Travel back in time to the scorching summer of 1959. Although the canals were still mainly used by working boats, leisure cruising was growing in popularity and so too the idea of living on a canal boat. Tonight, I take us back to that world as I read Mum’s reminiscences of the decision to live on a boat with a young baby, eventually finding their future home, the Kathy, and their nail-biting journey taking her to their home mooring. Some of which could sound all too familiar to modern canal users!
Jou...
Duration: 00:32:30In Praise of Locks (and lock-keepers)
Jun 04, 2023Send us a text
There’s something almost indefinably special about canal and river locks. Tonight, I relate my struggle to outwit the ghost of Odd Lock as well as take time to celebrate the lock-keepers of old and their newer iteration – the volunteer lockie (I’m guessing at the spelling!)
Journal entry:
2nd June, Friday
“North easterly winds
Grey skies.
But there are five ducklings
Braving the bluster
And a swallow scissors low over
A meadow of buttercups.
This light makes the yellow Irises blaze."<...
The Sun that Shone on Eden (still shines upon us here)
May 28, 2023Send us a text
Come with me for a walk by the canal and I will show you something wonderful! This week we explore how names and memories have the power to root and reinforce our connections with home and tell us something very important about ourselves.
Journal entry:
27th May, Saturday
“Late afternoon sun slants into
The tobacco-coloured waters.
Fifteen or more carp weightless
Among the cow pastures of weed-drift.
With a flick of a tail, they all glide as one
In a lithe...
A Nightingale Sang (and the world listened)
May 21, 2023Send us a text
This week marked the anniversary of what has been considered by many to be one of the most important cultural events of the twentieth century. Tonight, we try to recapture that moment and explore why its power to move still remains today.
Journal entry:
18th May, Thursday,
“Is there anything more beautiful
Than the softness
Of April and May light
While the clouds scramble
For height
Amid a sky of towering blue?”
Episode Information:
In this episode I...
Up on the Roof (Waiting for the rain)
May 14, 2023Send us a text
We are back! Spring sunshine and showers are transforming the fields and the canal and it is wonderful to be behind the microphone once again!
The roof of a narrowboat can acts as a special extra room offering you panoramic views of a world of thee worlds. Why not climb up here and join us up on the roof of the Erica to enjoy rook play and the approach of a thunderstorm.
This episode is dedicated especially to Stu and Vania.
Journal entry:
1...
Duration: 00:33:10The Three of Seven (At the conclave of oaks)
Mar 26, 2023Send us a text
Tonight, the clouds are racing and the young moon has already dipped below the horizon. Spring comes roaring on the back of a raging southwesterly. Join the Erica on a windy March night as, with the help of Rory's favourite book, we explore the significance of the conclave of oaks on the hill top.
Journal entry:
21st March, Tuesday.
“Long day.
Darkness has long since fallen.
On the bank, the two swans emerge,
Glowing ghostly white.
Their beaks quietly nibbling the grass.<...
When blackbirds learn to sing
Mar 19, 2023Send us a text
After a blustery week of wild, mad, March weather, why not join us tonight as we enjoy a sunny moment beside the canal and contemplate on the powerful word-play of some very old Celtic bards.
Journal entry:
17th March, Friday
“The sun is warm
To the west the clouds are Prussian blue
Like mountains of the imagination.
A woodpecker laughs
From somewhere across the fields
Which fill with lambs
And the sound of young
Calling to old.
A branch han...
Night Swimming (After the snows)
Mar 12, 2023Send us a text
Curl up with us tonight as we enjoy the warmth of a cosy cabin as snow gives way to sweeping rain and our stove glows brightly in the gathering darkness.
Journal entry:
10th March, Friday
“The convocation of oaks rises to my view
From a swirling mist of snow and blown spindrift.
Their trunks wrapped white.
Icicles hang from their branches.
I want to say,
“Don’t worry,
Spring is on its way.”
But they know that.
Th...
The Miles We Have Walked (You and Me)
Feb 26, 2023Send us a text
This episode is dedicated to my pair of walking boots who has shared life with me for nearly 45 years (and both of us are still going strong). We have walked miles together. Where have they taken me and to what (and to whom) will they take me in the future?
Journal entry:
24th February, Friday
“The jackdaws' chant hangs
Among the eaves of the ancient wood.
Aconite, anemones, and ransoms,
Green spears among rich leaf mould.
A church on a hill
S...
Songs to the Younger Part (Hymn of the Pearl)
Feb 19, 2023Send us a text
Blustery late winter nights are perfect for retelling old stories. Tonight we listen again with new ears to the ancient story told in the 'hymn of the pearl' and explore how old myths and folktales can weave such powerful tales if we just allow them tell their own stories.
Journal entry:
15th February, Wednesday
“An old moon leans back against the dawn.
Gulls scythe and cry
Between street lamps and traffic noise.
Chaos above and chaos below.
But between the concret...
Lock Wheeling
Feb 12, 2023Send us a text
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...
Duration: 00:35:48February Dawning
Feb 05, 2023Send us a text
All along the canal side, the wintery tees and hedgerows are filling with spring song and life. Subtle shifts and changes, the play of light through the trees, the shimmering reflection of an old oak, auger new seasons awaiting us. It might still be winter and cold weather is on the way, but why not join me tonight in a ‘secret’ spot, canal-side, where we can listen together to February dawning?
Journal entry:
1st February, Wednesday.
"The conclave of oaks at the top of the hill
A train in the distance ('Night Mail')
Jan 29, 2023Send us a text
Canals and railways are often very close near neighbours and so trains can be a frequent part of the canal soundscapes. This week we explore why the sound of a train in the distance (thanks to Paul Simon) can be so evocative which gives me the opportunity to reminisce about my childhood and revisit some wonderful poems.
Journal entry:
24th January, Tuesday.
“Racing head. Not much sleep.
So I am out here, trying to walk it out.
The ground crunches and splinters into...
Duration: 00:36:25One day last summer
Jan 22, 2023Send us a text
Join us around the warmth of a glowing stove tonight as ice once more grips the boat and freezing fog thickly mantles the winter-naked trees. On nights like these, it is good to remember summer days and so, tonight’s episode takes us back to one particular day late last summer.
Journal entry:
16th January, Monday
“A westering sun paints the opposite bank in amber,
Soil and bark glow warm with gold.
A tangle of twisted roots, bramble brush and rabbit holes.
Eight...
Duration: 00:37:24Tuesday Morning, 5.30am (The Voyage of Bran)
Jan 15, 2023Send us a text
Rain and mud are all around us at the moment, but there is wonder there too. The ancient myth of ‘The Voyage of Bran’ helps us to find the extraordinary within the ordinary and (with apologies to Simon and Garfunkel) the beauty of Tuesday Morning, 5.30am.
Journal entry:
13th January, Friday
“Boggy ground, although I am high on the hill.
Standing in the cluster of four oaks waiting.
Waiting for I don’t know what.
I turn, and behind me, the sunrises in...
Duration: 00:36:21When darkness falls (Skating on 'un-time')
Jan 08, 2023Send us a text
Happy New Year! New Years can be exciting times, marking new beginnings, a clean page, awakening dormant dreams and ambitions. However, sometimes it is not always like that. This year, in particular, many face the new year with trepidation, filled with anxieties, a sense of being overwhelmed and unable to cope.
What do we do when the future looks dark?
*Please note that this episode candidly discusses issues of mental health*
Journal entry:
4th January, Wednesday.
"Silver light on Cotswold st...
Duration: 00:42:36The Christmas Heron
Dec 24, 2022Send us a text
It’s Christmas Eve and the perfect time for a canal-side story. Have you ever heard of the Christmas Heron? No? Well, there’s probably a very good reason for that, but I will tell it to you anyway. So, curl up in your special armchair by the stove and I will tell you all about the Christmas Heron.
Journal entry:
24th December, Saturday (Christmas Eve).
“Christmas Eve dawns with a silvered light.
The canal is mirror calm.
A choir of rook song.
A lone s...
'Earth stood hard as iron...'
Dec 18, 2022Send us a text
Join us around the stove tonight, on a very cosy NB Erica that is currently ice-locked into a frozen landscape, as we think about the Fimbulwinter of old, and why Midwinter might be mid-winter after all!
Journal entry:
14th December, Wednesday.
“Ridges of frost form ribs on the sweep of hills.
Two rooks throw calls against a sky
Marbled by the setting sun.
Beyond the horizon, a pheasant startles a distant wood.
My fingers and toes burn.
Episode Informa...
Duration: 00:34:55Those eyes of old (look out at me)
Dec 11, 2022Send us a text
“Those eyes of old look at me and, through the haze of your futures, I look back at you…”
On this freezing December night, snuggle closer to the stove as I reflect on the strangeness of coming across an old photograph of me as a small child as well as the adventures of the Archdeacon on ice.
Journal entry:
9th December, Friday
“The scent of wood smoke and cold air.
The warm, dry sound of someone splitting firewood.
Each teasel head is framed in a...
Nightwalk 2 (Moon shadows across the water)
Dec 04, 2022Send us a text
The night is chill and crisp, a bright moon rides the racing clouds and stars shimmer on the surface of the canal. It’s a perfect night for a night walk. Snuggle down and wrap up warm as you join me on a canal walk washed by moon light.
Journal entry:
29th November, Tuesday
“Reluctant daylight.
The sun's cold shoulder.
Three ducks bob on ruffled water.
I walk on uphill
Grateful for thick socks.”
Episode Information:
In this epi...
Duration: 00:40:52Rainy town (as darkness falls)
Nov 27, 2022Send us a text
Tonight, we enjoy the special beauties of a rainy town in central England as darkness begins to fall, listen to Thomas Merton on city rain, and spend awhile at a window seat in a small café and create for while our own version of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks.
Journal entry:
26th November, Saturday
"Sometimes, all it takes
To make a day full
Is to have breakfast in a half-empty
cafe filled with chandeliers
And crescent moons
With someone you love
As a w...
Stories are for listening: Blisworth Tunnel (Ian Douglas)
Nov 20, 2022Send us a text
As the nights draw in and the cosy glow of a fire gets evermore inviting, it is the perfect time to share stories. It is not surprising that ghost stories have an enduring appeal. Many stories of the canal feature them. Ghosts like the canal networks themselves create a link between our worlds and the past. Tonight we enjoy the skill of Ian Douglas’ retelling of a ghostly encounter at Blisworth tunnel and why these stories are important.
Journal entry:
18th November, Friday.
“Stainless steel
...
Of cormorants and graduands
Nov 13, 2022Send us a text
This week saw the return of the cormorant which prompts a visit to Ernest Ingersoll to find out why they have no voice. A fairly severe reaction to the Covid jab meant that I missed attending this year’s graduation ceremony so join me as I think about past ceremonies and reflect on the journey of those passaging from graduand to graduate.
Journal entry:
9th November, Wednesday
“Here they come’
Like a stream in spate,
Rolling black pebbles in its wake.
Half a do...
Duration: 00:36:19Today I held back time
Oct 30, 2022Send us a text
This weekend the clocks change (in the UK). These small markers in our calendars can touch us in deep ways. Join me tonight as we stop the clock, step out of time, and savour together the unspent, untouched hour as the world around us sleeps on.
Journal entry:
28th October, Friday
“Wild winds race ragged
As starlings sport and shoal.
Golden leaves, sherry warm,
Stream head height across the canal.
A flash of brave blue. A kingfisher
Swims the leafy c...
'By badger light and lantern's sigh' (Magickry)
Oct 22, 2022Send us a text
Tonight, as the evenings draw in and autumn takes a firmer hold of towpath and fields, let's gather close beside a woodland campfire for some unabashed romanticism.
For life teaches us two things:
1. Romance does the heart good and brings a smile to the soul - and, on these darker and chillier evenings, who would deny us that?
2. Small boys will always be totally captivated by a wild heart and a gypsy smile ;)
Journal entry:
18th October, Tuesday
“Low cloud, like smoke, sweep d...
Duration: 00:30:25