When darkness falls (Skating on 'un-time')

Happy New Year! New Years can be exciting times, marking new beginnings, a clean page, awakening dormant dreams and ambitions. However, sometimes it is not always like that. This year, in particular, many face the new year with trepidation, filled with anxieties, a sense of being overwhelmed and unable to cope. 
What do we do when the future looks dark?

*Please note that this episode candidly discusses issues of mental health*  

Journal entry:

4th January, Wednesday.

"Silver light on Cotswold stone.
 The raucous clamour of rook song
 over sedge and bog grass.
 The wind is filled with flung bird
 and winter sounds.

Damp gusts bully down alleyways.
 That particular smell you get on entering an art shop.
 Outside the pavements glisten
 with the darkness of the sky." 

Episode Information:

In this episode I read the opening to Minnie Louise Haskin’s (1912) poem ‘God Knows’ [often called ‘The gate of the year’].

I also refer to Bede’s (ca.627 CE) account of King Edwin’s conversation and the lesson of the sparrow from his Ecclesiastical History of the English People Book 2 Chap 13.

Vanessa’s beautiful Mindful Narrowboat vlog can be viewed here: The Mindful Narrowboat.
The episode featuring the Hatton Flight can be viewed here: #131: Narrowboating towards Birmingham.

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. It will also allow you to become more a part of the podcast and you can leave comments, offer suggestions, and reviews. You can even, if you want, leave me a voice mail by clicking on the microphone icon. 

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

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Contact
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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 Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.