Visiting 'The Smoke'

I've been in London for a few days for work meetings and am just so glad to get back!

I used to live in London about 30 years ago and I loved it then. We used to go out most nights after work as I worked in the centre and I had my bike to get around. I had a great time then, but I have changed now. I'm impressed with how much it has changed, especially the cycle routes which are everywhere, but sitting on the tube this morning I felt quite miserable! Everybody is in a hurry and looks stern and unfriendly.

It was nice to stay with my sister and catch up, and the work stuff was useful and successful, but I couldn't wait to get home.

The minute I got back, I got the sawing frame out and sawed some wood, then I took J for a walk along the towpath and I started to feel the stress disappear.

The traffic on the canal is dying down now, but a hire boat pulled up at the water point as I was passing this afternoon and a chap jumped out and struck up a conversation. He was raving about how lovely our canal is and how wonderful the marina and facilities are. He was from London so I could understand why he was so impressed with our little corner of the world. His parting shot was 'you're so lucky to live here!' and I have to say that I do agree with him!

It is getting colder in the evenings now and we are using coal for the fire to supplement the wood, otherwise we won't have any wood left! I love the smell of the coal burning. We are still running the engine everyday until our new battery charger arrives in the next few days and the smell of the fire mingled with diesel is just lovely!

This time last year we had no idea how to heat the boat properly. We were either too hot or too cold. The wood burner is very efficient and if you pile a load of coal into it, it ends up getting so hot you have to throw open all the boat doors and windows just to cool down! Many a time last year there was snow outside and the canal was frozen, but we had all our windows open! One of the problems is that our burner is at the end of the boat. We would heat the living area really well, but the bedroom would be freezing. Then we discovered the Eco-fan - what a great piece of kit! It is a two or three bladed fan (two blade costs about £90 and three blade about £110), which has a chip in the base which is sensitive to heat. Placed on the burner it starts to spin as soon as the stove heats up and sends the heat all round the boat. If you are going to live on a boat in winter, this is a 'must have' item!

A bag of coal costs around £8 and in the coldest weather you would probably get through about two bags a week. We on the marina have endless debates amongst ourselves about the different varieties and everyone has their favourite brand! What is lovely is that you can pile it on before you go to bed and it will still be burning in the morning.

More on winter and fuel later.

Al :)