Cold winds and a sack barrow.

Hi Folks.

We had another very cold night and in places the canal had a film of ice on it.

My morning began at 5am, when I was woken up by a low flying areoplane. It sounded like a Hercules flying low over the canal, but I could have been mistaken. Anyway it woke me up, so there was nothing for it but to make a cup of tea. Before getting back into bed, I raked out the back cabin stove and got the fire going again, which was soon roaring away and warming the cabin again. Keith and I sat up in bed drinking tea and chatting about our nightime dreams. Keiths involved nasty neighbours at his parents old house and mine involved our boat being steered by a stranger and sinking, so neither of the dreams were pleasant. Having drunk our tea, we settled back down beneath the duvet and got another forty winks. I was up by 7.30am and was soon walking down the towpath with Paddy. There was a brisk wind blowing an icy blast, so I was keen to return to the warmth of the boat. We had a sprinkling of snow, but nothing to get excited about. Paddy did what he had to do and he legged it back down the towpath at a smart pace, so I think he wanted to be in the warm as well.

After breakfast Keith donned his North Face jacket, hat and gloves and headed out to wait for our sack barrow to arrive. We had no idea what time it was going to come, so it was just a matter of keeping out eyes open for the delivery van.It was going to be a pretty busy day with the weather turning so cold, and we did expect customers to call on us for their coal, so we were very happy that our new sack barrow arrived from Surrey Handling after an hour or so, which ment Keith did not get to cold. Our new trolley was put to work, so sooner Keith had wheeled it to the boat. It is a fantastic trolley and so light. I dare not tell you how much it cost though, but having had a cheap sack trolley, which ended up costing us a fortune, spending a bit more on a good trolley was important this time. We then moved Hadar around the corner and into the pool. Mo and Nessa from Nb Balmaha came and said hello. They were heading for the shop, but on the way back came onboard for Coffee and Mince Pies. We caught up on all our news. It was so lovely to see them both again. They will be spending a bit of time in our area, so we will ge to see much more of them.

Jo and John came past on Nb Acen, they were heading to Debdale for diesel and then back to market Harborough where they have a Winter mooring, so we will see them when we get to Market Harborough next week.

I love this life style because we have some wonderful friends on the canal, who we really enjoy catching up with. I am sure if we lived on land we would not see these people as much if at all, because our lives would have gone in different directions.

Whilst Keith and I were freezing our toes off outside, delivering coal to customers.Marmite was warming herself, she leads a pampered life onboard our boat. Today she spent much of it lounging in the back cabin opposite the stove and I cannot say I blame her, because it has been perishingly cold.

The day has now worn on into the evening and it is dark outside. Paddy will get his last walk of the day soon, we will then shut the boat up against the cold.