Feb 4th

Normal 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Not much to report today so this will be very short!   Clive�s toothache returned with a vengeance in the night and he didn�t get much sleep � he managed to last until 6am then got up to take more painkillers.  I got up when the alarm went off and made us both a cup of tea, but Clive was very tired bless him so I left him in bed and he slept like a baby for another three hours.  He felt much better when he finally got up.   Whilst he was sleeping the sun had come out and was steadily warming the boat up as it streamed in through the windows.  It eventually got so warm I had to open some windows and also the front doors into the cratch, which was actually even warmer than the boat.  It was amazing sitting inside the boat gently simmering away, in my shirt sleeves, looking out at the ice and snow all around!!    I had put the engine on about 10.30am to charge up the batteries and to ensure there was plenty of hot water.  It was soon nice and hot and I enjoyed a lovely shower.  The boat was so warm by this time that I didn�t need to dry my hair, I just brushed it and it dried on its own very quickly.  However this is the calm before the storm so to speak, as the skies are so clear it evidently going to be extremely cold again tonight, therefore, although the water in the basin melted today it will be well and truly frozen again by tomorrow morning, so I doubt that we will be moving anywhere for several days.  We had been hoping to get to Market Harborough by Friday afternoon but that is looking unlikely.  We could move, breaking the ice as we go along, but this really isn�t good for the hull and it will also mean that we will have to have the bottom blacked a lot sooner than normal as the ice does wreak havoc with the paintwork.  So I think we will have to go into town by taxi or bus on Saturday morning for Clive�s dental appointment.   One thing I find amazing about the cold temperatures is the fact that the ducks are out on the water all night, not on the bank as I expected.  I was quite late going to bed last night as I was watching a programme on TV about comic relief; Clive had gone to bed early and was fast asleep by the time the programme finished.  As I was going to bed I looked out of the window and there were loads of ducks in one patch of water that wasn�t yet frozen, swimming around and quacking and generally behaving like ducks!  Some of them were standing on the ice with their heads under their wings, fast asleep, but how do they do it!!!  Don�t their little feet get freezing cold, either in the water or on the ice and what if the water freezes around their feet whilst they are asleep � they would be stuck when they woke up!  Bless!  Oh well I suppose it is another one of life�s little mysteries that I will just have to live with!   Well other than that, I have nothing else to report!