Time warp back to the 1960's - On board at the turn of the year

This morning was a shock to the senses.... Rachel had set an alarm for 7.45am and we woke to a cold 7c boat. When I went out last night it was a lovely semi cloudy night, not cold. Overnight the wind and weather changed and we woke to a cold boat and a frosty outside. The title refers to the ice we had on the inside of the windows - the kitchen and one of the lounge windows we kept open for the fire to release a bit of heat as it was warm in the boat when we retired to bed. That was the norm when we lived in a terrace house as kids with one coal fire to heat the whole house.

The fire was soon lit and the benefit of logs is you get a hot fire quickly. I went out to get the genny to charge the Ecoflow and a few other bits  and realised it was still in the garage at home - I'd taken it home to service, which didn't get done. 

We had a lazy morning a tad spoilt by the arrival of a gang of fisher persons  - ok fishermen no women present who as ever were loud miserable looking and sweary.... and yes I count myself as a fisherman. 

We took ourselves for a walk via the lanes to the Anchor pub that was predictably closed so returned via the towpath to a nice warm boat. 

I set to watering up that was a comedy of hose fittings blowing off and splits in the hose - it gets shorter each watering up - I need to buy a good length and replace what we have as we need two to get to the taps here at Shebdon. 

After lunch I drove back to the cottage to collect the genny and pick up some fuel and supplies on the way... I took the nearly full cassette back and emptied it into the drains via the manhole  (person hole) we have in the garden.

Back at the boat the genny was filled with petrol and is now charging the Ecoflow and has topped up the batteries that went to float quite quickly once again proving the Smartgauge is anything but. I'd rip it out but it is useful to parallel  the leisures if the starter isn't strong enough in the cold to spin the 2 cylinder three litre engine over. Of course this could be done with some decent jump leads which I also have !! I think next battery change I will re do the electrics and remove the Smartbank altogether - its just a gauge I should not be looking at as I have the shunt that gives some info and I know resting battery voltages and state of charge as well as the amps in to indicate a charged battery bank. We also use the Ecoflow most evenings to not load the 2 x  AGM's so they have a ( too) easy life.

So we will see 2025 into 2026 later... A nice meal some fizzy stuff and a look back through the photos I like to take. It'll give us a sense of a full year  - we may ponder a few trips we have outlined for 2026 also nto 2026 then have a few easy days on Percy with the odd job to do. It is giving snow where we live from Monday so we may have to move the house sitters out or share the space for a few days as we will be back earlier.

For those regular 50+ people who read this  - thank you. I hope you have a good evening and a good start to 2026. One bit of advice, don't delay those plans and goals, non of us is guaranteed tomorrow, take care now.