Still in Market Harborough.

We hope that everyone enjoyed a happy and safe Christmas. We like you all are on the countdown to 2010 and hope that it is kind to us, our friends and family.

We had a quiet Christmas onboard. The high light was having Christmas dinner cooked for us by the chef at The Union Inn. We enjoyed a five course meal, which included the good old Turkey. The chef certainly did us and all the others eating at the Union Inn proud. It was so nice not to have to spend all morning cooking the dinner, for it to be polished off in a couple of minutes and then to have all the washing up to do. The rest of the day was spent watching Christmas TV and picking at nibbles. It has to be said that Christmas Day TV has not been that impressive, maybe the New Years Day TV will be better.
We are still frozen in at Market Harborough. There are signs that the ice is thawing, but because we need to wind in the basin, which is still frozen solid, we are going nowhere at the moment. The basin is frozen, but it is nowhere near hard enough to walk on and yet people have allowed their dogs to go out on the ice and on Christmas Eve, one man and his dog ( I feel a program coming on) actually walked across the basin and thought it fun. I think he was an idiot, but hey that is just my opinion. One things certain if he had gone under, there would have been no getting him out in the dark of night.
This morning I walked Paddy along the towpath to see if there was any progress of thawing further up the canal and there is not.
Talking of the towpath. On Boxing Day the towpath was like glass. We managed to take on some water and whilst doing so I watched in dread and horror as people out for a Boxing Day walk, slipped and slid their way alongside our boat. On a couple of occasions, from inside the boat we heard people actually slide into our boat, it was the only thing that saved them from sliding into the canal. Whilst waiting for the water tank to finish filling, I actually advised some people not to continue their walk, because it was far too dangerous. Those that did continue, soon came back saying that they had thought better of it. Thankfully at the moment the towpath is much improved.
So here we stay for the time being. I will keep you updated on here or you can visit out Facebook page. Have a lovely day and stay safe out there.