Oh what a beautiful day.

It has been a fabulous Saturday. Overnight the temperature got down to -4.6c, but inside our boat it was a very warm 22c, so we were not cold at all.

Having enjoyed a much better nights sleep. I was up just after 8am, along with the dog and cat, who seemed determined to let me know that she had no food left in her dish. Marmite would have to wait, because Paddy needed his walk first, otherwise he would be crossing his legs. I have never fathomed out how he can go from 6pm until around 8.30am the next morning. I am sure he has hollow legs. But bless him, he always waits until I have my boots and coat on. he then leaps to his feet and stands at the back cabin door, awaiting further instructions. Due to the hard frost overnight, the ground under foot was very crisp. As I walked along the towpath, my feet scrunched into the ice and snow, which was now quite firm due to the frost. Paddy as always loved his morning stroll and the fact that he could no relieve himself. he has a nasty habit if weeing over his front legs. This is because more often than not, he is not looking what he is doing. With the dog walking over for me for the day. I then had to stoke the fires back and front. I always start with the back cabin stove. I start with riddling out the ash, which is laid on top of the fire overnight to keep it in. Having done that I shovel in some more coal, open up the bottom and away it goes. The saloon stove is much easier to get going, it just needs a riddle and further coal added. Breakfast this morning was rice crispies and milk with a nice cuppa and then it was time to put the hoover around. It is such a luxury to have the hoover going and has really made a difference with keeping the dog hairs under control. Paddy sheds his hair all year round, so it gets everywhere. Neither the cat or dog like the hoover, and always find places to hide when I drag the hoover out. I think it is the noise the Dyson makes. With that done, I then made a minced beef curry for dinner, which has spent the whole day slow cooking in the back stove. Yesterday I baked a chocolate cake in the back stove. it is the one in the picture above and very yummy it is, even if I do say so myself. We had a piece each with lunch. Over the next few days the temperatures are expected to stay below freezing, so I decided that it would be worth topping up our water tank. When the weather is this cold we store the hosepipe in the engine room, to stop it freezing. The outside tap was frozen and took a large kettle of boiling hot water to breath it into life. Once it had coughed and spluttered, water began to pour from the tap and the filling of the water tank began. This took over half an hour, so I had time to chat with some of our neighbours. During the afternoon, I got a phone call from one of our customers, asking if he could collect 6 bags of housecoal, so hubby and I unloaded that from the hold and I waited for the customer in the warm afternoon sunshine. After he had gone, I then served ben a customer in the basin with some Supertherm, which he is trying for the first time. I have told him if he does not like it, he may bring the bag back and I will give him something else to try. So today has been a busy old day, but a pleasant one.

Good news of the day was the fact that we won our first individual Gold Medal for 30 years at the Winter Olympics. Congratulations to Amy Williams who won the Skelton Bob overnight. lets hope this spurs our other athletes on to great things.