Break from DIY...

It has been tricky over the last few weeks, I could have got so much more done if I still had access to my garage. Deb has been leaving for work some days before six so at least it has been one less body to limbo past the drying skirting boards, new outside table, boat plank and pole etc etc. I think I pushed my luck a bit too far the day I started taking the bathroom apart though!

My efforts the last few days have been trying to get as many coats of primer and undercoat on the boat sides that the weather would allow. The goal was to get two topcoats on before Christmas but alas rain stopped play so it will have to wait until after the festivities.

No I have't gone mad and decided to repaint in sky blue, that's just a drop of topcoat colour in with the undercoat.

We also had a visit from Mark on Calliisto the coal boat yesterday who had a fair price for diesel and a really good price for coal (exell and supertherm) so we are sorted for the next month or so.

Deb wasn't too happy with me when she got home yesterday...

Apparently it was a year to the day that my DIY 'incident' occurred. We were getting ready for our big canal adventure as we would have been finalising negotiations and sorting out surveys about now. We had loads to do at home and my job of the day was to get the gas hob fitted so that it could be connected to the gas by the engineer. Not a difficult job but whilst contorted in the cupboard I managed to dissect an artery in my neck that led that night to a stroke.

So why the ticking off from Deb? Well yesterdays boat DIY job was to sand the gunwale to rubbing strip of LJ's port side. Initial sanding down had been done a couple of days ago with a coat of primer and some filler over the top but it was a bit of a slog sanding sixty feet by hand so I bought a cheap sander from Lidl. Much easier to get the job done but it needed me to keep the boat away from the towpath as the there was no gap for the sander. With both hands full the only way was to lean against it with my head. Ah well no damage done - hopefully ;)

Final Decision On Winter Moorings... Just in time!!

We had been chatting again at length regarding where to moor up for our first 'live-aboard' winter. As soon as I sat down with my pro's and con's list it was really a no-brainer for both of us. The obvious plusses of electricity and a laundry/shower block at Trinity marina in Hinckley just wasn't good enough to sway the argument.

When we started to plan our change of life all the canal press had wall to wall pictures of the big freeze of the winter of 2010/11. Beautiful snowy scenes of rows of crisp white-topped boats and boaters carrying supplies by sled. None of the pictures were of rows of boats 'sardined' together in a marina. The marina at Willington would be the only one I would consider from the many we have seen this year. It was one of the first we had seen and Deb and me both sat in our respective offices logging in to their web-cam all last winter, texting each other whenever a boat moved or potential buyers visited the boats for sale.

The other problem with Trinity this year is that the the canal between the bridges either side of the marina is closed for work during January and February so we wouldn't even manage a day away in the new year.

So, the final choice was a location (and just in time as the ice was nearly half inch thick in places today!) that we have been to a few times and just happens to have our favorite pub on the network (so far), adequate facilities, a great pub, small and large towns within five miles, lots of history, a pub, no neighbours within arms reach and, oh yes a really good pub on the doorstep. We are at Hawkesbury Junction for at least a couple of months - so if you're passing give us a knock, if we're not in we will be in... well you know where we will be ;)

Just after sunset

Moon over Pump house and ice

We are just under the bridge on the right

Sutton stop lock