Iced In

The weather is getting colder and we have been keeping the fire in over night. It is a good job we did last night because we woke up this morning to a big freeze! We were actually unaware of it when we woke up because the boat was so warm. It was only when I got out of bed, walked down the boat and heard the creak and crunch of the ice underneath that it dawned on me that we were frozen in. This was confirmed on looking out of the window:

 

The poor ducks only have small pools of water to swim in:

So I thought I had better give them some food this morning:

 

I have some major work to do which forms part of my contract for the company who send me abroad. The deadline for this is next Friday which, if I don't meet it I won't have my contract renewed. Although they are paying me for 3 hours to do it, it will actually take me much longer, so I spent all morning indoors working solidly and still haven't finished! I was completely stir crazy by then, so needed to be outside doing something active. The sawing frame came out and I set to sawing up some of the wood I had collected from the tow path, ably assisted by my canine companion Jack in his smart new coat:

I was going to fill up with water today, but I left the hose outside over night and it is frozen solid inside. I have now brought it inside the canopy and hope it will be defrosted by tomorrow!

All this sawing, chopping and foraging has meant that I have become quite strong over the last few months. I bought a bag of coal from the marina caretaker today and normally he would bring it over to my boat, but I could see he was busy so collected it myself. The bags weigh 20kg and it felt as light as a feather to me. All this physical work is better than gym membership!!

A ;)