Jan 08 2009

Normal 0 false false false st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* 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;} Well we are still here, stuck in the ice and not going anywhere!  We have been in this spot for three days now and the ice on the canal is not showing any signs of melting.  Well in saying that the surface of the canal which had already been broken by the passage of the boat does actually melt on top during the day but soon freezes again as the temperature drops, but it doesn�t actually melt right through.    It actually snowed again yesterday, as you can see from the photographs, which I took out of the window! It didn�t last long though.  We have a couple of neighbours moored a little way in front of us and there is a lot of birdlife around.  We had a family of long tailed tits in the trees alongside the boat yesterday but they just wouldn�t sit still and let Clive take photographs of them!  However I managed to get a couple of photos of a squirrel who was chasing about in the trees opposite the boat.  It was fun watching him tearing up and down the branches.   We are sincerely hoping that the temperature rises soon, as predicted by the weathermen.  We are actually down to a quarter of a tank of water so we are going to have to be very careful with it and not waste any.  That means no showers, not flushing the loo unless necessary and only washing up once a day!  Still we only have to get through tomorrow, Friday, as we are driving up to Huddersfield again on Saturday.   We are going up to visit Clive�s mum who is going into hospital and also hopefully to see the newest addition to our family � my niece Natalie (Ruth) was safely delivered of a baby boy on 5th January � we are still waiting to hear what his name is going to be.  Our congratulations to Natalie (Ruth) and Craig on the birth of this very precious bundle and also to Nicholas and Sheila the very proud grandparents.   All being well we are having visitors tomorrow - if they can find u!  My friend Helen and her husband Steve are coming over from Suffolk to see us.  On Monday we are going to stay with our very good friends Barry and Shirley who live quite close by in Cranfield � so a busy few days coming up � we are really looking forward to it.   Well that�s it really � nothing else to say till we move!