Have you been hit by it?

Hi Friends.

Here we go it is the first Monday of the New Year and of course another Bank Holiday. At the moment, I am feeling on top of my game. The only thing spoiling it is my fog horn cough. Yep if it gets foggy and you need someone to send out warning signal's I am available at a small cost. Ot you could just pay me in cup's of tea and chocolate.

Topic's of conversation with everyone at the moment seem's to be the flu and the continuing cold weather. Everyone I speak to has either had it, got it or know's someone with it. Although I was in bed for a couple of day's I do not think I had the flu, I classed it as a cold, but maybe it was masked due to the flu jab I had. Either way I am just glad I had the jab. Some people seem to be suffering really badly with this flu going around and as we have heard on the new's a lot pf people are in hospital with it. I really recommend getting the flu jab, either from your doctor or go to a chemist which is able to do the jab for you, that is exactly what Keith and I did. There is no point in suffering if you do not have to. For the sake of £15 each we are covered from the worst of it. After everyone has become exhausted with talking about the flu, we then get on to the weather and the fact that we continue to be frozen in.
Here at Market Harborough the basin is still frozen over and even though a boat did try to go out on New Year's day, we have had a couple of frosts, which have added another film of ice over what was thawed water. I would say that in places the ice is still over 4" thick and this means that it is not easy to move through. We could try moving, but we would probably only get a few hundred yards and then have to return to where we started, so there is little point in struggling for hours to only end up not reaching anyone. We also have to consider others in all of this. Being where we are at the moment, means the majority of our customers can get to us by car and we can then load up the sack barrow's to go and meet them. If we move off from here and get stuck in the middle of nowhere we are going to be no use to anyone. I remember this time last year, we tried to move and made it just over a mile or so out of Market Harborough, then hit 3" thick ice and came to a stand still, so ended up struggling to wind and heading back to a mooring. We also have to think of the safety aspect as well, not just for us but other boaters and boats. There are a few plastic cruisers on our stretch and I am sure they wouldn't be to impressed if a piece of ice pierced their hulls. This is a rare occurance of course, but it can happen, so we do have to think of the worst case scenario, that way if all goes well it is a bonus. The weather forecast for today is:
Generally cloudy with perhaps a few bright or sunny intervals. A cold day, with early frost in places and with temperatures only reaching a couple of degrees above freezing.

Tonight Mostly cloudy. After a dry evening and start to the night sleet or snow is likely to develop over northern parts of the region by the end of the night. The temperature will get down to -3c, so yet another frost.

We are now open for business after a couple of day's off, and I know a couple of customers are coming for coal today, so I will wish you a lovely day. Stay safe and warm, where ever you are in the world.
Chat soon x