WORDS once SPOKEN now CAPTURED
June 26, 2022
Love Letters (Written in Canal Water)
Odd little shards of memory take on new meaning. A young man clinging to the side of a bridge, a walk around a reservoir, a canal-side pub, a bridge crossing the Grand Union. It is funny how, looking back, distinct paths and ...
June 19, 2022
Lessons from the Breadlady
The heat of the past few days has broken with sweeping skies filled with rain and lowering clouds. Join me tonight, as we reflect on life on water in the heat of summer, listen to the poetic words of one of our listeners, and...
June 12, 2022
'I've Got Her Now' (Love and Hawthorn Blossom)
This week has been one of extremes that encompasses the splendour of solitude and an onboard visit by three very enthusiastic police dogs (and a puppy)! Alongside all this, we took time to listen to some bats, watch the cygne...
June 5, 2022
Caught in a Rhyme
On the week that the cygnets of our swan pair hatched, we explore the rather contradictory nature of the canal through the eyes of poets Jo Bell, Nancy Campbell, and Ian MacMillan. We find romance amidst the unromantic and be...
May 29, 2022
On Drying Days (Like This)
May slowly rolls into June, but is summer really here? The towpaths and hedgerows are garlanded in summer colours and the ducks (and swans) are beginning to move into their time of eclipse. Some of the mallard drakes are begi...
May 22, 2022
The Colour of Water
I want to describe to you what I saw today, but I can't. We have so many words to describe and represent the most complex of concepts. Why then is it almost impossible to describe something so simple and ordinary as the colou...
May 15, 2022
When David Came (Cruising the Cut)
The Greek myths tell us that there are times when the gods come down from Olympus to walk amongst mortals. We had a very similar experience when, on a sunny day in late March, David Johns came to visit us and record an episod...
May 8, 2022
Banbury Town (Rainy Saturday Afternoon)
Banbury has a significant place in the history of canals, most notably for being the location of Tooley’s boatyard and its association with canal restoration campaigner LTC (Tom) Rolt. However, the relationship between town a...
May 1, 2022
'A Gypsy Love of Colour' (Painted Boats)
Why are canal boats and traditional canal-ware so colourful? When did the custom of painting working boats in bright colours begin and why? This week we explore our attraction to bright colours and what Tom Rolt describes as ...
April 17, 2022
Entanglements with the Archdeacon
The archdeacon is one of the colourful local characters who live here. Irascible and combative, he is nevertheless an important part of the social life of this small portion of the watery world. He’s a feral domestic duck wi...
April 10, 2022
No Small Gift
“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 little whirlwind brought into our lives and ma...
April 3, 2022
I have Heard the Roar of Spring (and it is fearful)
Just as the wind swung north with its sting of sleet and hail, the first batch of ducklings were hatched this week. It was a far from simple event! However, as winter attempted to reassert itself with some biting winds and sh...
March 27, 2022
Steps out of Step
A week of glorious spring weather has heightened springtime activity along the canal sides and nearby fields. It also coincides with a particularly busy period personally. My response and those of the birds and animals around...
March 20, 2022
Skies of Impossible Blue
This week’s episode is filled with sunshine, the scent of resin, and the soporific call of pigeon and dove as we explore a little further afield. A visit to Dad on the north Norfolk coast means a change in landscape. Find out...
March 13, 2022
Wings of Angels (Cyril)
Over the last few weeks, we have watched our little swan family slowly begin the new phases in each of their lives. Whilst it can feel sad, it is also a celebration of the life of young Cyril who is now strong enough and equi...
March 6, 2022
Masters of the High Wire
The wind is beginning to lose its raw edge, but the water is still lively and choppy. Join us on a moonless mad March night as memories of Shambala evoke a contemplation of high-wire walking in many of its different guises. T...
Feb. 27, 2022
The Darkest of Nights
February has been a month of storms both meteorological and figurative that have left many of us feeling battered and anxious. Such storms leave their marks upon the landscape and familiar terrains can become strange, alien, ...
Feb. 20, 2022
Riding the Storm (Eunice)
Snuggle up comfortably as you join us on the NB Erica for a wild night and day as we ride the storms Dudley and Eunice. The poems of Ted Hughes, Louis MacNeice, A.A. Milne, William Blake, and John Betjeman keep us company as ...
Feb. 13, 2022
Windy Days and Nights
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 ...
Feb. 6, 2022
Solitary Stranger: The Wigeon
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 t…
Jan. 30, 2022
A Dark Alchemy of Words
Living on a boat has meant that we have had to make some difficult decisions about which books come with us onboard. Tonight, I introduce to you one of my most favourite friends on our bookshelf – the collected poems of Dylan...
Jan. 23, 2022
Winter on the Moorings
As we begin to enter the depths of winter, this episode celebrates with a soundscape of winter at the moorings that tries to capture the life and energy of this season. Journal entry : “18h January, Tuesday. A rich winter moo...
Jan. 16, 2022
Echoes of Distant Memories
The remnants of two days of murk still cling to the hedgerows and trees as you join us tonight on the narrowboat Erica. A very slow thaw is polishing the dulled surface of the water making reflected lights once again dance with life. Curl up and let’s enjoy those little shards of distant memories t…
Jan. 9, 2022
Into a New Year
Join us on NB Erica on a blustery January night. The cold Wolf Moon is nearing its first quarter and the stars glitter like ice. After an unexpected delayed start to the New Year, we are back on air and with some exciting(-is...