One Thing After Another...

Most of the snow is still around but I think the majority of it is now ice, as it is incredibly slippy everywhere. We realised today that we might not be going anywhere for a good week at least, as the canal is one solid, frozen piece of ice now despite us seeing some gaps that weren't frozen a few days back. We went over to our neighbour, Keith who kindly lent us his plastic water containers so that we can top the tank up a little bit at a time over the next few days. The boat isn't near the water point but its only a two minute walk away, so we started topping it up today by going back and forth with the wheelbarrow and then siphoning the water into the tank. Pawel made a head start on topping up: We will continue with it tomorrow as Pawel has more time before work so we'll go back and further maybe 5 or 6 times which should definately see us through! Meanwhile, I made a start on lunch. What better, in weather like this, than a good casserole!? Here's the recipe: Por...

That's right... Today we had a visitor arrive! It's Harold. He's from the Arctic and seems to have made himself at home on the deck! Even Edward loves him.... All the passers by have told us how handsome he is too. I hope he stays around for a little while yet! Pawel was so happy to see him again too and even had his new favourite photo turned into a proper 'picture' postcard that Harold can take back to the Arctic with him! Ahem! So yes, plenty more fun here in the snow, with Eddie running around like a blue arsed tit as usual: Here's a few snaps of Pawel 'constructing' Harold ( come on you didn't really think Harold walked all the way here did you!?): A 'body' ready to take back to the boat to complete on deck: Oh dear.... Meanwhile nothing else has been happening really! A quick Waitrose shop was done earlier this morning and this is what I enjoyed with a cup of coffee this afternoon: Waitrose bakery sell amazing cakes! The one above is a ...

It's now 630PM and the temperature hasn't gone above minus 2 all day. Nothing much has been done as there isn't really anything to do apart from keep the stove well stoked and make sure everything is functioning as it should. We took Eddie out this morning for a really short walk which is when the pictures were taken. We felt bad for the birds today too knowing its cold and that our bird feeder at our mooring has been pretty much empty since we left. Pawel fed the ducks with some stale bread and we also topped up the bird feeder that we installed in our usual mooring spot. Pawel topping up our bird feeder in our normal mooring space. Beautiful white fields: And just through the next bridge, our neighbour, Keith's boat: Here's a few more pictures of our local area from today to give you an idea: Snowed-in canal: Towpath from the boat: We also got a few extra bags of coal from Andy at the chandlery with the wheelbarrow today. Pawel loading them on: A few pics from ou...

The snow has arrived! It started last night and when I stepped off the boat to top up with coal around 930PM it looked like I was in the arctic! The canal is really wide here, frozen and then dusted with snow.... Here's a few quick pictures from outside the boat this morning, around 830AM: Only us....and no one else. But a beautiful and peaceful A few more from around the local area here as well as Eddie enjoying himself! I'll post some more pictures later... Right now its still coming down as thick as anything!

Apparently, the weather is due to be really bad in our area overnight and tomorrow. Winds have been forecast for being around 35-40MPH easterly, along with heavy snow for most of tomorrow. In preparation, (just in case, for once, the forecast is correct) I've tilted our solar panels to an easterly direction (the forecast wind direction for tonight/tomorrow). We have our panels mounted on a tilting ball system so if they're tilted away from the wind then the wind can blow under them causing movement/banging on the roof and in some cases, can dismount them completely! They're chained to the roof so won't blow or fall off the balls completely onto the towpath(!) but its still worrying! Tilting them to the wind will make sure they should stay pretty still. It's only 1730 and already I can hear the wind picking up. Normally I don't worry too much about the positioning of the panels, but I expect it to be a bit more severe where we're moored at the moment, as we ...

Well we are completely iced in now. We smashed a bit of ice in the canal and it was around half an inch thick. P did a morning shift today so was out the house by 6AM. At around 930AM it was still minus 2 and temperature all day today hasn't been any more than 0! I think tonight will definately be a lot colder and the forecast for the next few days shows snow all day on Friday along with heavy winds and temperatures being minus 12 overnight on Sunday! So the next few days should be really interesting! And finally, along with some not so great pictures, here is the recipe for my "Goo" Puds: Chocolate Espresso Goo Puds A great, easy to make, quick pudding. Brilliant for in the week after work, but equally as good for a dinner party as they can be made in advance. There's nothing original about this type of pudding, but using a flavoured chocolate does give it a new twist as does adding in some ground almonds in place of flour that some other recipes use. I use a coffe...