Happy New Year to all our readers.
We hope that you are not waking up with to much of a hangover this morning.
New Years Eve was an extremely cold day, having had temperatures down to -5.6c over night. Everything was frozen outside; it looked like a winter wonderland. Paddy thought he was in seventh heaven, when he leapt off of the boat for his morning walk.
Everything under foot was crisp as the temperature was still down to -2.4c and it really did not get up much throughout the day.
The surface of the canal was frozen, which caused the swans a real problem as they tried to swim along the canal. A boat which had been moored behind us over night set off early back towards Napton Locks, carving a channel through the water for the swans to swim in, making their lives a little easier.
With the weather being so cold, we did not venture outside too much, the warmth of the fire was much more inviting, until a knock on the boat got me scrambling from my chair to see a gentleman stood outside wrapped up against the weather, wanting three bags of coal. He said “They had moored in the perfect place, not only a great view, but a coal boat on hand as well”. My reply was “All’s you need now is a sanitary station to hand and you have the perfect mooring for the New Year”. It made him laugh. With the coal delivery made Keith and I climbed back onboard and into a nice warm cabin, with the copper kettle boiling, ready for a coffee.
We did sit up to see the New Year in by watching New Year Live on BBC1, whilst enjoying a glass of Single Malt Whiskey. The fireworks display in London was a spectacular way to welcome 2009 in and say goodbye to 2008.
Has anyone made any New Years Resolutions?
We never make them, because like with millions of other people we know we will only break them.
With our Whiskey drunk and the New Year half an hour old, it was time for bed, where we listened to a firework display taking place down in the valley.
New Years Day 2009.
Brrrrrrrrr it is another very cold morning, but not as cold as New Years Eve. All around us is still white with a heavy frost and there have been a few flakes of snow floating around. It would make for a perfect beginning to the New Year if we had some decent snow.
Keith cooked us eggs, bacon and mushrooms on toast for breakfast, which was very nice. I then headed outside to move coal around in the hold. It needed restacking again to make it easier to unload off of the boat as the number of bags decreases. Keith was now on the last leg of finishing our rag rug, it is really beautiful, and he has made such a fabulous job of it.
Several boats had moored up with us, and I got the chance to chat to some of their owners as they walked past with their dogs, on their morning stroll. Many would be on their way today as they had marinas to go back to, with work calling on Monday. How glad we are that we do not have a mooring in a marina, or have to head back to work, not that we have anything against marinas, they are just not our cup of tea. We have the luxury of another year of continual cruising, where we will meet and greeting old and new friends. We will be doing a couple of boat festivals during 2009, so we hope the weather will be a little kinder to us this year.
As the afternoon light faded into the dust of the evening, Keith completed his marathon task of making a rag rug for our back cabin and it looks amazing.
He has done a fantastic job making his first rag rug. All the painstaking work of cutting up old t-shirts has proved to be well worth it. Getting out of bed in the mornings will be all the more pleasurable, as we step on to our new rug.New Years Day is drawing to a close and with it my first posting of 2009. I will draw to a close by wishing you a safe and peaceful year, and for those of you who are cruising during 2009, we hope to meet you along the waterways of the UK.
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