A very manic Wednesday.

Hi Friends.

We left Gallows Hill this morning little knowing what the day would bring. It was very windy and rather dull, but with regular customers waiting for us, we knew we had to get to Market Harborough.
We left the over night mooring at 9 am, there was no point in leaving any earlier, because we did not want to arrive in the basin to early, because we would end up waking everyone up in the basin with the noise of our engine. We actually arrived at Union Wharf in Market Harborough at 10am, and immediately people were asking for coal. With the temperatures dropping, people need to feel warm. We winded in the basin and pulled in on the Sanitary Station. I immediately opened up the hold sheeting and pulled out the sack barrow, to discover that the flippen thing now had a puncture grrrrrrr. Having stood on the spot and cursed it up hill and down dale, we came to the conculsion that it had happened yesterday at Gallow's Hill. So no sack barrow the days deliveries were going to be a struggle. I began by carrying the coal on my shoulder to our customers in the basin, which I am used to. Keith was doing the same, but then his back complained again, so he used our small solid wheeled trolley for a while. With everyone in the basin supplied again for another 2 weeks, we sorted out our toilet cassette and got rid of rubbish, before heading out on to the towpath to deliver coal to customers. We then moored up on Logan Street Wharf, where our household customers began arriving for their fuel. I managed to go down the town with the help of one of our best customers, Myles from Paws 4 Walking, he very kindly drove me down town and back again, which was very kind of him. He then went away with his coal and coal for his neighbours. Whilst I was gone, Keith found the puncture in the wheel of our sack barrow, but the glue we had was no good. The kit we have is as old as the hills, so we were not suprised. It has been our busiest day so far and I expect it to get busier as the weather gets worse.
Keith has pulled a muscle in his back again and is struggling, so he is not going to be humping coal around for a while. I have to go down the town tomorrow morning, to buy some puncture repair glue, because the glue in our kit was no good, which was rather annoying because we could not repair the sack barrow. Then we have to go back to Foxton.
I have shut up shop for the day and with dinner cooking, I think I will be relaxing this evening in front of the TV. There is no 'I'm a celebrity, get me out of here' tonight, because there is football on. England are playing France, so I will be watching 'The Apprentice', that is is I manage to stay wake.
Hope your day has been as wonderful?