Blue skies - but the ice is still too thick

I've been to Chirk for a week over the new year, with Dave joining me for a couple of days.  Nice to see all the family.  All the skiers returned safely after their christmas trip - thankfully all in one piece.  I returned to the boat today by train, following the line of the canal for alot of the way.  It was lovely to see a blue sky for a change - you begin to think that the world had turned grey forever.  However, the double-figure temperatures and the blue skies has not seemed to have had any impact on the ice on the canals.  I did a few walks along the canal around Chirk & Fron while I was there, and am pleased to report that the Llangollen canal is now free of ice from the Lion Quays up to Llangollen, with the water level in Fron back to 'normal'.  Things weren't looking so rosey for the other canals I saw.  No sign of any movement around Wolverhampton Locks, with ice still evident.  Just coming out of Wolverhampton on the train, I saw a set of step ladders, a TV and the front bumper of a car sitting on the ice in the middle of the canal.  Around Tipton on the main line there was a 19kg bottle of propane on the ice - 19kg!!! how thick is the ice there then?!  There has been no boat movement whatsoever on the main line.  The train passed over Glascote at the Tamworth Boat Club, again, the ice still thick with all the detritus sitting on the surface of the ice, with no sign of any boat movement.  Things havent improved around here either, so it looks like we'll be here for a few days yet before we have to decend the locks before the stoppage on 10th Jan - otherwise we'll be here till the end of Feb!