Winter of 1962/3

Send us Fan MailA first-hand account remembering life aboard a small boat with a small family during the harsh winter of 1962/3.The time we lived on the Kathy were always very precious to Mum and she later wrote about them. Her writings evocatively describe life-aboard at a time when the canals were beginning to transition from working to increasingly residential and leisure use. In this week's episode, I read an extract from her writings in which she describes the winter of 1962/63.  Journal entry:“16th December, Wednesday.Venus hangs above Bearley Lock.  A hard diamante stud puncturing the smooth bowl of lacquered blue and satsuma orange fire at the rim We stand above the pool eroded by the summer-pastured cows. The water looks like spilt Indian ink that would go on forever and everPenny sniffs at the torn soil and a lone duck slips into the air.Later today, the lacquered bowl will become roughened and dull, and rain will whip and pit the mirrored surface of the water. But that is later. This is now… and we are both absorbed in our own worlds.”Episode InformationPhotographs of the Kathy and our family on the boat can be found on the podcast’s Facebook page, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.In this episode I mention the delightful Weather Folk-Lore of the Sea and Superstitions of the Scottish Fishermen.General DetailsIn 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 interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.All other audio recorded on site. ContactFor pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts follow me on:Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoswPodI would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected]   Support the showBecome a 'Lock-Wheeler'Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.ContactFacebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.socialMastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw  I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] 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 WatersYou can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.