Friday's Jottings.

It's Friday and we are heading at a great speed of knots towards the end of October arghhhh. Can someone please tell me where 2012 has gone?
I am sure as I get older the years seem to fly by, heck that means as the years come and go if I blink I may miss them. 
As we are moored up for a few days, I had a leisurely start to the day. A cup of tea in bed whilst watching a bit of Challenge TV, then it was time to get up and get the back cabin stove going, because it was fair to say it was a tad chilly. I know it was chilly because Marmite was sleeping at the bottom of the bed in the bed 'ole on the crochet blanket. 
Paddy and I then set off along the towpath past a few moored boats. Paddy had a spring in his step as we approached NB Tilley owned by Tracy and Sam, because their collie Ben was laying out on the towpath. As always Paddy was on his lead passed the moored boats and I may have changed direction if I had not known Ben, because I am fed up with Paddy being duffed up by other boaters dogs, who allow their dogs to lay out on the towpath unsupervised or on a lead. Some dogs very very aggressive when you try to pass their boat. But we passed Ben having said "Good Morning" to him and waved to Tracy. After our walk we stopped on our way back to have a chat with Tracy, who was on her first cuppa of the day. It has been a year since we saw them, so there was plenty to catch up on. They will be mooring up in Market Harborough for the Winter, so we will see a lot more of them. 
The sun looked like it was trying to come out, which would be a first for a few days, Keith wanted to move so we were out of the trees, so that we could take advantage of any sunshine which may put in an appearance, so this we did. We only move about 100 yards and immediately noticed the difference with the panel. Keith propped the panel up a little to take full advantage of the suns rays and yep the sun then went back in again grrrrrrr.
The glass on our saloon stove had a crack across the corner. When we were in Braunston we bought two new pieces of glass from Midland Chandlers and this morning we decided to fit one of them. Now because the fire has been used for the past 5 years, getting the bolts undone which were holding the glass in place was easier said than done, but eventually Keith managed to get three of them out, luckily once we had cleaned up the door we were able to slide the new glass under the one which refused to come out. 
With the new glass in and the door rehung, I set about getting the fire going. It was not long before the saloon was feeling much warmer and the back boiler was heating the radiator in the bathroom ready for tonight's shower.
The morning had got away from us one way or another, so I made us some lunch before getting on to my next job, which was to finish shovelling the loose coal into a pile, ready for our coal delivery next Wednesday. Mask donned, because I do not want the coal dust on my lungs, I climbed into the hold and began shovelling the smokeless fuel into the heap I had start a week or so ago. 

Coal shovelled and floor brushed, I am now ready for a coal delivery on Wednesday, which is being supplied by W.G Hill and Son. Paul and Tom have always supplied out coal and now we are selling coal again, I see no reason to change coal supplier. They give us a great service at good prices and are a wonderful family business. 

Out of the hold, I looked a little like a coal miner, but with a shower planned for later, I am happy to look like something the coal miner dragged in. 

The sun is back out so we are getting something from our panel at long last. It will not be enough to stop us running the generator, but every little helps, as a popular supermarket keeps telling us. 

The afternoon is flying by, so dinner is already cooking in the back cabin stove. Marmite and Paddy are both flat out snoozing, so I am going to put my feet up for five minutes.