Martin Kielty
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theboozercruiser.bsky.social
Martin Kielty
@theboozercruiser.bsky.social
Prog poetry, music journalism, occasional TV and radio commentator. Total of 18 books, 3 in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Permanent Collection. Scotsman living on the canals of England and Wales on a violet narrowboat. www.theboozercruiser.com
Just in case there's any doubt, sheep are NOT very good at covert ops…

#canallife #narrowboatlife #wintermorning
November 17, 2025 at 8:02 AM
A family outing passing my boat this morning… #narrowboatlife #canal #lancastercanal #narrowboat #wildlife
June 10, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Up like the larch to find a wee middle-of-nowhere spot to hide for a day or two. It's grand to feel like there's no one else in the whole world. Until the loneliness kicks in and you'd happily spend an hour with the pub bore! It's all a question of balance…
#canallife #narrowboat #lancastercanal
June 9, 2025 at 8:06 AM
A lovely 45-minute or so cruise from Bolton-le-Sands to Carnforth, with a minor issue when a tree pushes the camera over c16s, and my "friend" tries to "help" me moor outside the Canal Turn pub…
#canal #narrowboat #lancastercanal
June 8, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Actually not that far from the madding crowd – but it feels like it! #lancastercanal #narrowboat #canallife
May 18, 2025 at 2:54 PM
At very very very very long last there is a new poem on the way… #poetry #history #wales
May 4, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Today's cruise at 100x speed – real time was 1hr 34m. Distance about four miles from Ratcliffe Bridge wilderness to Galgate, slowing down to pass moored boats and when ducks or swans on patrol signalled eggs or hatchlings nearby. A grand day for it!
#lancastercanal #Narrowboat #canallife #wildlife
May 2, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Really enjoyed a few late winter walks along the towpath while I've been moored just outside Lancaster.

#narrowboat #lancastercanal #canalboat #moonlight #coldnight
March 16, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Someone’s left the cell open! But it’s okay… they’re asleep.
March 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM
I’m wondering what the all I’ve been
And who I want to be
And while I learn to understand
I’m drinking in the pub behind the tree
#canalpub #canal #narrowboat #pub
February 21, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Can you make out a couple of lights under the left-hanging branches of the tree? That's the pub. It's 600m across the fields but there's no public footpath so it's 2.2km away. I'm told it's not a great pub. It's cold. The cabin is 24º and I have Guinness. Quandaries of boat life.

#canal #narrowboat
February 18, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Challenging barriers in the way and a hill to climb, but there's a way through to the bright world beyond… Today's view from my boat is remarkably representative of the month I'm having. It's getting better!
#canal #spring #challengeaccepted
February 14, 2025 at 7:18 PM
I often don’t have the words. That may surprise people who know what I do for a living. This beautiful four-year-old boy in the pub tonight didn’t need my words. I didn’t ask him if everything was going to work out. But he told me that’s exactly what’s going to happen. And I completely believe him.
February 11, 2025 at 9:03 PM
The last few mornings I’ve been suspicious that someone was messing about with my boat. You hear stories of chancers who’ll just steal coal, mooring gear, tools – anything not locked down . It’s a weasel innit! Stalking about as if it owns the place, looking at me like, “Get off my boat!”*
February 7, 2025 at 7:29 AM
View from the side hatch, 7.44am today

#canal #narrowboat #lancastercanal #dawn #landscape
February 3, 2025 at 7:52 AM
This has to be one of the worst things about living in England… I ordered a haggis rom a supermarket chain, to enjoy a late Burns supper. They didn't have one, so replaced it with a black pudding.

In Scotland, you wouldn't even dare to THINK of that.

#burnsnight #haggis
February 1, 2025 at 1:06 PM
It's been a cold but wonderfully bright couple of days on the Lancaster Canal at Galgate. I'll soon be leaving this canal, but there are some aspects I'll miss… #narrowboat #canal #sunset #landscape #lancastercanal
January 30, 2025 at 6:48 PM
The great rock drummer Ted McKenna – one of my closest friends in all the world – moved on six years ago. I keep saying, "If you love someone make sure they know." Tonight even that doesn't feel like enough.

#tedmckenna #sahb #rocknroll #drummer #rip
January 19, 2025 at 10:36 PM
I kid you not, I was cruising through effing MORDOR… #canal #narrowboat #fog #mordor
January 16, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Night into day, although the temperature hasn't changed much. Despite my best-laid plans and a pressing need to visit a bin shed, I don't think anyone's going anywhere today…

#canal #frozen #ice #winter #narrowboat
January 10, 2025 at 10:08 AM
The boat is ever-so-slightly moving because the water between the hull and the towpath remains liquid. But I suspect the ice will soon lock me in place. Then there’s the merry dance of NOT compensating for the boat’s movements around me!

#canal #narrowboat #ice #frozen
January 9, 2025 at 10:43 AM
In the brilliant movie The Quiet Man, two characters stop on a wee bridge one night, and one tells the other he’s off to the pub to “talk a little treason.” This bridge takes me to a pub where I love to talk a little treason, so I call it Treason Bridge.
January 9, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Clannad did their farewell show in October. I spoke to Pol and Moya Brennan about that, and their genre-changing soundtrack music for 80s cult TV show Robin of Sherwood. The article is in Prog 156, on sale now.

#clannad #progmagazine #progrock #robinofsherwood

www.loudersound.com/news/we-cele...
December 31, 2024 at 2:48 PM
All Hail The TIt, Commander of the British Empire! #alantitchmarsh #cbe #newyearhonours #britishroyals
December 30, 2024 at 11:56 PM
I launched The Boozer Cruiser YouTube channel 4 years ago today, unsure if poetry was something I could make part of my life. Today the viewer count is 1,115,880 and I have 54,944 subs, with 5 videos having passed 100k views. Thanks for your interest!

www.youtube.com/@TheBoozerCr...
December 21, 2024 at 11:22 AM