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Sunday 8 December 2013

Not much boat time.

I'm not sure where the time goes as we are well into December all ready and I haven't been able to get over to the boat. We had the tidal surge and high winds earlier in the week it was a little worrying for Hull and environs but in the end it wasn't too bad and no where in our village got flooded at all. There was flooding of the village of Keadby and I was a little worried that the lock gates to the Trent on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal would be over topped and that would then flood the canal and then there could well be problems on my mooring at Thorne as there is no lock between the Trent and Thorne. It seems all was well as I have heard nothing. If the comet Ison had survived it's close encounter with the sun we could have been blaming the weather on her. Mind you I would have put up with a bit of flooding if the spectacle of the comet had been as dramatic as they were predicting. Unfortunately the comet didn't survive but the scientists have been able to learn loads anyway. The high tides on the Humber will have brought a lot of debris high up the banks. I used to go with my Father after spring tides and collect fire wood for us both. I will go down and have a look to sea what is about. I was thinking that there way be the may be some 20/25ltr chemical containers washed up. I had a thought that they would make great cover for batteries. I will have to get the dimensions of a battery and see if they will fit. The plastic containers could be cut and trimmed to accommodate any cables etc and then they would make a good cover I would thing. Something else to look out for.

Maybe there was no comet but these winter evenings mean the low sun in the morning and evening are bringing dramatic sunrises and sun set. I am really looking forward to the time when we can live full time on the boat and take full advantage of the winter sun and the quiet canals. There is nothing nicer than having a day in the fresh air and then settling down in to a cosy boat in front of the fire.

I have some wood to chop after thinning out some trees and then I have some more to thin over winter so with luck I will be able to cut those to the right length for the boat stove. I will test them out on the open fire at home to make sure that they burn okay before lugging them to the boat.

My son has recently flown out to Hong Kong to join his first ship as an officer and they were delayed yesterday by fog on the way to Shanghai. It made me realise that so far this year we don't seem to have had too much fog yet this year. When I worked on the river there seemed to be much more about. Is that part of global warming effects too, or am I just remembering wrongly? They are off across the North Pacific soon to Seattle. I'm glad that we don't get seas like that on the cut. My days of bouncing about for days on end with no sleep are long gone thankfully.

Next week is a very busy one for me so I don't think that I will get the chance to get over to the boat then so it looks like the week before Christmas. We have bought lights for the boat so we will take those over plus some logs and other bits and pieces.

Sunset on the Weaver in July.

Foggy start to the day in March on the Grand Union Leicester Line.

Taking water at Braunston in March with a nip in the air but the stove lit and keeping the boat nice and warm.

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