Baby It's COLD Outside!!

“Winter is the time for stories, staying fast by the glow of fire. And outside, in the darkness, the stars are brighter than you can possibly imagine.” ― Isabel Greenberg, award winning British illustrator and writer

      I knew it was going to be COLD last night. I was sitting in Les' recliner watching the Blue Planet II on the BBC and the fire was burning merrily in the stove and suddenly I realized the tip of my nose was cold.  I reached out a hand and I could feel the temperature changing in the boat. Now for those who don't live on a narrowboat, or who have never been on one--especially in winter--you should know that heat and cold lie in layers inside. Hot air rises and the warmest place on a narrowboat is always near the ceiling with the coldest being nearest the floor. The middle level of warmth begins on this boat at about my knees and rises to my neck when I am standing up; from the neck up it is quite hot. I am five foot one inch tall. Les was five feet nine inches tall and this why we argued about the heat on the boat all winter. More of his body was in the warm and hot layers of the boat. Being a short arse most of my body is in the cold zone nearer the floor. 
     Anyway, last night I could feel the internal drop in temperature corresponding to a sharp drop outside around 8:30 pm. I knew the canal would freeze over and it did. I slept soundly in my Portuguese gray flannel sheets and winter down comforter.
     I woke this morning to a warm and toasty boat but the outside world was a different place; brittle with cold, clothed in a layer of dry frost crystals nearly three inches thick. At  6:30 am the thermometer read -8C/17F. I went outside with a broom sweeping down what I could and started the engine to make sure it was turning over. It will heat some water and bring the batteries to a full charge. I doubted the solar panels would generate any charge today but I swept them off as best I could. There was still a frozen rime of frost across the surface. I tried sponging it away with my lambswool cleaning tool and some hot water but it simply turned the frost to a frozen sludge. I managed to get most of it off but there was still a layer of almost opaque frost across all three panels. Never the less I came back inside, hung up my gear and walked back to the stern to check the battery charge and it warmed my heart considerably to see the solar panels were indeed making energy and my batteries were topped up to 13.5! 

     The water point tap is frozen so that is my next chore. I am going to pour a kettle of boiling water over it to get the door un-latched and another kettle of boiling water over the hose pipe inside with the lever turned on and left in the on position. Soon enough it will thaw and begin running. It is a good day to have a tidy up inside while the sun is still shining; wash a load of clothes and hang them to dry, make a pot of nourishing soup and some bread--rye I think, and settle down in front of the fire with a book. 
     Wherever you are if it's winter I wish you warm and safety. If it's summer I wish you good cheer and glass of something cold raised to the rest of us!  xxx