Weather Episodes

A welcome breeze plays among the reeds and carves ripples on the canal. Tonight, the Erica is moored on a perfect summer’s night. We welcome you to join us as enjoy the quiet and go searching for older attitudes to summer, the shifting dates of Midsummer's Eve, and just why Midsummer Night’s Dream was so unsummery.

As the heat begins to settle, join us tonight on the narrowboat Erica as we enjoy that special time of a summer’s day, when evening falls and cool breezes ripple the water’s surface. The heat and work pressures have meant that tonight we are freewheeling a little. We also take a peak out of The Land of Green Ginger's window. Settle back in the cool and enjoy a gentle ride to wherever. Journal entry: 24th June, Wednesday “Back from a hot city In a hot field ...

Join us on a noisy and stormy night of high winds at the tail-end of winter as we contemplate the messiness of these between times the lie at the edges of the seasons. In a world used to binaries, these times can feel messy, frustrating and even unsettling. The old idea of ‘borrowing days’ helps us to navigate these ‘untidy’ seasonal borders in a different way. Journal entry: 30th March, Monday “Sometimes, The canal is silent Biding time Keeping counsel. Don't ask Let ...

This year, the Bita kaulo munthos (the little dark month) has brought with it yet more rain. This time of year can be a hard time. Mid-winter; the time of lambing, Imbolc and the Cailleach. Strung halfway between winter solstice and spring equinox, Imbolc heralds the mid-point of what for many seems to be turning out to be a very hard winter. Join us tonight around our fire as we contemplate how this time can help to prepare us for the uncertainties of the coming year. &n...

Tonight, we’re celebrating our 200th episode while enjoying our sixth winter aboard the NB Erica. To mark the occasion, I’m looking back at how the watery path of canal life has reshaped our lives, sometimes in unexpected ways. So, settle in as we ponder the intricacies of synoptic weather charts to the quiet, unique qualities of living on the water. Journal entry: 24th January, Saturday “A silver sun Leans on a lonely wind Casting hard light Upon the world. I...

oin 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....

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 suggests, 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 Whirl...

A warm dry week has ended with chasing shadows and showers. It looks like a dampish Bank Holiday! Therefore, this might be a good time to consider more deeply on the quality that rain has to touch us both physically and emotionally. Thomas Merton and Tristan Gooley are two very different people, but they 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 sm...

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: Snatching...

You join us tonight at the end of a rather windy day. There seems to be a fairly common feeling that we have been encountering a lot of blustery winds recently, both meteorologically and metaphorically. Tonight, we stoke the fire and reflect on the place of the wind in our lives, history and culture. Journal entry: “11th February, Friday. There’s a wrapping chill to the air And the scent of wet earth. Penny unsuccessfully tries to jump a large puddle. One some late winter days The way t...

Following the epic weather of the past few weeks, we go back in time to a period that best celebrated this type of weather. In this episode we explore why the enigmatic appeal of Anglo-Saxon poetry and its fascination (or even obsession) with winter casts such an enduring influence on our culture. It is the perfect type of literature for cold winter nights, but there are also other deeper traits that remain deeply rooted in our shared cultural memories that inform our attitudes to winter. Journ...

When I meet people who listen to this podcast, one of the most frequently mentioned features is the inclusion of the weather log with which I end each episode. This week I talk about what inspired it, one of which is my childhood love of the BBC’s Shipping Forecast. What makes these stark lists of climatic data ring so powerfully in our minds? Journal entry: “8th October, Friday Laundry-water coloured skies Heavy dews Clumps of willow-herb hang like desolate sodden paper tissues. The sock on...

This week the rains swept in pushed by great fronts of ocean air – moisture from places with magical names that I hear on the shipping forecast and can only imagine. Life around progressed without a murmur and the ground drank heavily. In this episode we listen to the rain and to Thomas Merton. We also thinking about casting clouts and what that might mean. Journal entry: “7th May, Friday It was -1⁰ when I got up this morning. The sky was lightening in the east and the trees and hedgerows, b...

At the beginning of the week we were waking up to snow and each nights the temperatures have been slipping below zero. However, the days are filled with sunshine and warmth, and a vibrancy fills the word. Spring has arrived. A few years ago, I discovered something wonderful that the isophenes of Spring tell us about the the progress of the season. We also join the poet, writer, and naturalist, Edward Thomas, at the end of his 1913 bicycle ride in Pursuit of Spring and finds, high on the Quantock...

Everywhere the world is filled with the whispered spring. The first of this year’s lambs scamper and nuzzle in the field above us and skylarks sing high from under a bowl of Wedgewood blue. A softer, warmer wind blows, and the sun is strong. Humans and non-humans alike emerge to drink in the sunlight and warmth. It’s a spring that the poet John Clare knew well and understood its significance and it’s a spring from which Edward Thomas drew strength. Tonight, the stars of frost garland NB 506812, ...

Tonight, the NB Erica is locked in ice. There’s a wolfish southeaster blowing and the night is filled with rasping creaks and groans. There are times when the ice sings. Acoustic lightning flashes that dart across the frozen water surface. Journal entry: “9th February, Tuesday. Last night’s snow low uneasily on the ground, like a miser’s blanket, threadbare and uneven. But it’s enough to see the lacework of indistinct and broken-formed tracks of night-time life. For once, I can see what Penny...