Happy Christmas to all my readers!

We have been frozen in here at Fradley since the third week in November. There was a brief thaw for my birthday (thank you birthday angel) but now, like the rest of the country we are back in the deep freeze.

Because of being unable to move the boat for such a long time, I was forced to complete the most disgusting task that I have undertaken on the boat so far. That of manually pumping out my black tank - known to most of you as a poo tank! The hardest part was pushing containers full of effluent all the way to the BW station where there are facilities for disposal of said excrement. I managed to do around 100 litres and I was wasted afterwards! However I can now pee and poo in peace for the next few weeks. I have a tank full of diesel thanks to 'Mayflower Graham' who sells diesel in a can. Water is increasingly becoming an issue as all the remaining taps have started to ice up and stop working. As long as I don't use my shower, I can stretch to another week before I run dry. I'm not sure what I'll do then.

I was due to drive to Sevenoaks on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with my family but a combination of 9 inches of snow here and temperatures forecast to drop to around -10 means I can't leave the boat without risking damage to the water system and engine, not to mention a scary drive around the M25 on Friday! So, with regret I have had to cancel those plans and stay aboard instead. However I won't be alone as my friends on narrowboat Huff n' Puff have invited me to Christmas Lunch with them. Bonny will be delighted to spend time with her boyfriend!

I hope you all get where you are hoping to be for Christmas and that you receive all you want.

photos as promised

Photos rarely do a scene justice and these are no exception. I awoke this morning to a scene from Narnia! As you can see we have had a fair amount of snow and even more ice.

Bonny loves the snow and burrows her head into it, but she is less keen on the ice as she gets sore paws! At present we have ice like glass on our mooring path and so it feels like a risky adventure everytime we leave the boat. But isn't it beautiful?!

Winter Challenges and Opportunities

I can't believe it was only a few weeks ago I posted those benign autumn photos! It is suddenly winter here, as it is nationwide and everything has changed. The colours have been bleached out of the landscape and everything is beautifully monochrome - photos to follow.

It is the change in my day to day routine that really marks the change of season for me. At present the canal is frozen and no movement of the boat is possible. So instead of cruising up to the water point, sticking a hose in my water hole and then effortlessly reversing back (well, generally), I now have to barrow a couple of plastic containers across the lock either to our tap, or if it is frozen, all the way to the BW water point. Then back to the boat where, with the aid of a funnel, I carefully transfer every precious drop into my tank. If the freeze lasts for more than a week or so, this will be a daily chore and in the dark as well if it's a working day.

Then there is the business of keeping warm. At present I am using nearly 2 bags of coal a week and of course they need to be lugged down to the mooring as well as regular supplies of logs and kindling. I know some people cope with coal alone, but I find it difficult to keep the fire going all night without a log or two in there with the coal. If the fire goes out in the wee small hours, the tip of my nose usually informs me pretty quickly! Then I have to decide whether to get out of a warm bed to rebuild the fire or to leave it and risk frostbite when I get up in the morning! It has got down to -7 here at night so I have moved my bed through to the saloon, to be close to the stove.

I am still managing to get into work, although it is getting harder as our road doesn't ever get cleared or gritted. But if I don't make it in, I don't get paid and so I have to trek in somehow.

You would think it is a pretty miserable existence at present, but I do not find it so. For a start, I love the stunningly beautiful scenery, together with that special sort of silence we only get when there is thick lying snow. I also find that life focuses down to the basic essentials of survival and that relieves my mind of all the ordinary worries and anxieties that normally niggle at me. There is also a feeling of achievement in coping in the extreme weather, together with a real community feel among all the live aboard boaters! We smugly smile as we pass each other as if to say 'look at us, aren't we tough!'

I guess it is like every other part of life, it all depends on how you look at it. If I focus on my fears (like being snowed in at work - looking out of the window, very possible today) then life is hard and uncomfortable. But if I see it as an adventure and a way to get in touch with my natural, instinctive / animal self, then it is all good!