WORDS once SPOKEN now CAPTURED
Oct. 8, 2023
Swings and Roundabouts (Listeners' Questions - 3)
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?…
Oct. 1, 2023
Under the ghost of a Harvest Moon
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. Jo…
Sept. 17, 2023
Uncertain Futures (Listeners' questions - 2)
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 Septe…
Sept. 17, 2023
'No Regrets' (Listeners' questions - 1)
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…
Aug. 20, 2023
An August-coloured Evening
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, T…
Aug. 6, 2023
Adventures and Departures (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 4)
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…
July 30, 2023
The New Baby Arrives (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 3)
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 joy…
July 23, 2023
Crochet by Lantern Light (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 2)
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 h…
July 2, 2023
Facing the Fears with Maggie
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. Endle…
June 11, 2023
'A Little Clinker-Built Boat' (The 'Kathy' Chronicles - pt 1)
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 b…
June 4, 2023
In Praise of Locks (and lock-keepers)
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 – th…
March 12, 2023
Night Swimming (After the snows)
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 m…
Feb. 5, 2023
February Dawning
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 await…
Jan. 15, 2023
Tuesday Morning, 5.30am (The Voyage of Bran)
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 bea…
Dec. 18, 2022
'Earth stood hard as iron...'
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…