Coal delivery and new pillows.

Hi Folks.

After the fun and games we had yesterday moving Hadar in the ice to the Sanitary Station, we spent the night on the electric hookup, which meant I got all of my washing done and used the tumble drier, so everything was washed, dried and put away within a couple of hours. After we had got a few things done, we decided to go down the late night shopping evening in Market Harborough. We went and had dinner at Abbey Cottage Chinese Restaurant, which we had been to a couple of times before, but they were closed. This time was third time lucky and we were not disappointed, because the food was lovely. With full tummies, we headed into the town to join in the madness which is the late night shopping event, which is held every year. There were loads and loads of people milling around in the town. We went and said hello to the Hfm team, who were playing festive music. There was a lot for the children to do with fair rides in the town centre. The atomosphere was very festive, so hopefully the local stores will have had a good evening, they stayed open until 9pm.

I really had thought I would have slept like a log last night, but nope that did not happen. We were in bed by 9.30pm, because we were both shattered and Keith was falling asleep in his chair. The night began well, with me falling asleep straight away, but that did not last, because at midnight there I was wide awake and listening to Keith snoring grrrrrrrr. He has a bad shoulder at the moment, so he cannot sleep on his side like he usually does. This means he is laying on his back and therfore he snores. It got so bad that I got up and sat in the saloon for an hour and listened to him snoring and the wind blowing the ice against the boat. I felt I knew how Titanic must have felt when she was hit by an iceberg, because it really is eerie when the ice scratches along the side of the boat. A bit like fingernails running down a blackboard. 1pm I climbed back into bed and tried to sleep, but I knew I had to be up at 6am, so was then clock watching. 6am came and the alarm went off. I was up and dressed with a list of things to get done before our coal delivery would hopefully arrive. The list went something like this.

1. Breakfast.

2. Walk Paddy.

3. Put washing machine on.

4. Roll up the sheeting on the hold and tidy coal.

5. Fill up the water tank.

6. Make a Sausage Casserole, which was put in the back stove.

With all of thoise jobs done, it was time for a coffee, whilst we waited for the coal delivery to arrive. When Tom and Chris arrived, they pulled the lorry as close to the sanitary station as possible, so they could use the crane.

The delivery was made so much easier with the crane arm lifting each pallette off and down to the wharfside. Tom and Keith then lifted the coal bags to the boat and I stacked them in the hold. With the hold full, it was time for Coffee and hot Sausage Rolls before Tom and Chris left to do their next delivery.

Deliveries made to a couple of customers we secured the hold sheeting. Keith then did some ice breaking in the basin so the hire company can move some of their boats to the service area on Monday as they need pumpouts, he then reversed back down the canal to our original mooring where we will be until the thaw is complete hopefully. Once moored up, I then legged it down the town to buy some new pillows. A couple of our old pillows are now being used by Paddy for his bed, because his previous ones were absolutely disgusting. They are now residing in a skip. Paddy now has two nice clean, dry pillows for his bed and we now have two brand new pillows for our bed. It is a win, win situation. The town was packed with Christmas shoppers, it was still as manic as last night. I did what I had to do then legged it straight back to the boat, where I had to unload coal for a customer coming to collect their coal. With that job done the closed sign went up on the boat, because I am well and truly cream crackered. I will most definitely sleep well tonight and if I do not there will be trouble.