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 beauty in the unbeautiful.
Journal entry:
1st June, Wednesday
"Heron, streak of grey light,
Standing on the bank,
Coverletted in Moon's-Eye
And the first flush of poppies of the season.
Rain falls as needles of sunlight.
The heron preens for a while
And then is gone."
Episode Information:
In ‘News from the Moorings’ I refer to Mark Nicolaides’ beautiful and exceptionally informative website on the swan: Swan Life. You can read more about swans’ nesting and hatching behaviours in the section: Incubating Eggs.
There is a very good collection of canal-themed poetry on the Poetry Society’s website where, in conjunction with the Canal and River Trust (CRT), there is a section that includes works from past and present ‘Canal Laureates’: Waterlines.
In this episode I read the following poems:
Jo Bell - ‘How to Live on a Boat’
Jo Bell – ‘Frozen In’
Nancy Campbell (2018) – ‘Recipe for a Towpath Garden’
Ian MacMillan – ‘Canal Life’
For information about Pete Tuffrey’s paintings see his Etsy page.
I am not sure how current Pete’s Etsy page is as most of his more recent artwork appears to be on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TuffreyArtist.
You can also follow Pete on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PeteTuffrey
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.
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:
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message using the voicemail facility by clicking on the microphone icon.
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Contact
I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com 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.
