Back Onboard! Snowbound for sure... Making hot water bottles for the engine...

So now I'm back onboard the good ship after the frolics of Christmas and New Year, both of which were supremely good fun. All of my hoping that the coldest weather was behind us seems to have been in vain! It's snowing real powder snow, here at Yardley Gobion right now!See?!



Mum and I arrived at the boat this afternoon, armed with supplies including petrol for the generator and some food, which is always nice... After puncturing a four-pinter on I-can't-fathom-what, and duly spraying milk all over the bedroom unwittingly, it was time to begin the fun of coaxing the engine back to life after more than a week of sitting idly in sub-zero temperatures. Oil topped up, electric keys plugged in, raw water valve opened - I thought it prudent to check in the water filter for signs of ice - and ice there was! Not a solid lump but a strange 3D latticework of the stuff... I squeezed a couple of the water lines and heard a disconcerting crunching sound...

I attempted to turn over the engine, but something was wrong - I noticed that the water pump belt was not moving! So next job was to get into the impeller housing and -

Okay, fast forward to the juicy bits because you're a busy person, right? You don't want ALL the details!

Short version is: I had to resort to using a hot water bottle to warm up most of the water lines around the engine! In the end it worked just fine, and despite grumbling at the beginning she was ticking over happily within seconds, while Mum did sterling work getting the stove going.

We bought a bag of coal, which is doing wonders in the stove this evening. It's my first night with coal on, and what a difference! It seems warmer throughout the boat, and requires far, far less attention than relying solely on wood. Wood which has sap in it, sap which runs down the flue and stinks!

Officially they're saying it's the coldest winter in the UK for 30 years, which makes it the coldest winter I've ever lived through! And it's turned out to be the winter I'm on a narrowboat... HURRAY! If it's this desolate and wonderfully bleak opposite a Marina with a village nearby, I can only dream what it must be like for the lucky souls moored out in the wild stretches of nowhere! The lonely stretch near the north end of the Oxford Canal springs to mind... 

It seems like everyone else blogging from the canals is going nowhere either! We're a community of stationary nomads for now... I hope everyone on the system can easily access water and similar essential facilities. I'm lucky enough to be directly opposite the wharf here so facilities could hardly be nearer. If this continues for much longer we'll be saying to each other; "Ahhh, I remember when those thin bungalows at the bottom of the hill used to MOVE!" And our Grandchildren (of the post-apocalyptic-winter generation) will scarce believe us. 

Tomorrow morning I'm on an adventure with my camera, so expect a photo-laden post tomorrow! Now I'm off to explore exceptional whisky and science fiction at the same time.

A couple of recent photos, just 'cos...