contentedsouls

Well we’ve had two visitors over Christmas – one being the lockie who came and closed the lock gates on his moped in the pouring rain – and the second being the American wife of the Papa whose daughters’ and niece run our ‘local’ She needed some fresh air and dog cuddles as she has a Schnauzer back in the states and was pining for a bit of stinky dog moustache; my two were more than happy to resemble that requirement!

The snow started to fall overnight on Saturday and, although the rain washed it away Sunday morning, it came back with a vengeance so we pulled out onto the main line to filter some water, fill the tank and stick a couple of loads through the washing machine. There is a very large barge here with liveaboards on it, so we didn’t fancy filling from here in non-moving water. A timely decision as we’re now iced in. A snow covered working peniche passed us whilst we were over on the main line – if we really wanted to move we probably could break through this ice here today and follow a peniche down. We’re reasonably happy here though and we have free electric which is quite nice for the central heating whilst the temperatures are below zero. My God it was cold out there – the wind nearly !ripped the lining out of my lungs

Busy today: flat battery on the car, washing machine door broken off, run out of coal (incredibly difficult to find), run out of dog food and more hassle with the insurance company on a rented property after the bathroom ceiling caved in following the flashing being stolen. Up early this morning as we needed to get out and get things sorted before the 12am closure – the witching hour when everything shuts down for lunch. Didn’t achieve it all but did quite well with time left over to make lunch for tomorrow for June and Mike off NB Temujin who are driving across to spend the day with us tomorrow.

The car battery will be delivered to the local restaurant on Friday and we have somewhere to go New Years Eve if we so wish. The latter depends very much on the weather.