In Fradley with rubbish signal & rubbish blogger

Just a short blog from Fradley, as I've lost patience with Blogger & not being able to up load pictures direct, together with an internet signal which keeps disappearing for no apparent reason - there - it's just gone again.  Grrrr.  Blogger says they're "working on the problem and sorry for the inconvenience".  So hopefully, we'll be able to upload photos direct in "browse" rather that via Picasa.  I did have some lovely pics on our journey into Fradley, and will may go back to them.

We arrived in Fradley with full tanks (front & back) of diesel, full tank of water, and empty loos, feeling quite smug, and ready for the icy blast which was forecast.  All the washing is up to date, courtesy of the laundrette next to the Swan - or the Mucky Duck as it's better known by.  Dave gave me some pocket money, so waiting inside the pub seemed a much better option than watching the spin cycle.  Look who we found in there - the famous Mal of the Canal - or to give him his correct title Malcolm Edwards MBE - or just "Sir" to his friends.  We had a lovely couple of hours catching up.  Dave and Mal go back well over 20 years, when Mal operated the disabled trip boat out of Trevor Basin and Dave had just escaped from the RAF.

Fradley Junction, the Swan pub is the painted building in the middle of the pic.

Despite the ice, we have had an escapee.....

We run the engine in forward and reverse gear for a few minutes each day, in order to break up the ice around the boat.  This absence of ice helps passing boats, and minimises the amount of ice scraping against your hull as the boat goes past.

NB Jack the Lad made a break for it, before the ice got too thick.

(Jill, Graham - remember him from our trip down to Oxford? he has a VERY hairy old dog, called Jack strangely enough, and we kept finding large clumps of dog hair at locks, where he was grooming the dog whilst waiting for the locks to empty/fill)

I don't know how far he got, he was getting twitchy about not having much diesel, and didn't want to get frozen in, he told us, when he stopped for a chat the day before. 

 

Unfortunately, we haven't seen a coal/diesel boat since before christmas, and we couldn't even buy a bag of coal here at Fradley.  Thankfully, our pals Dot & Dave from NB Lace Lady, who moor in Wychnor came to the rescue there, and the two Daves' got coal, logs and sticks, while Dot & I caught up over cups of tea in the warmth of the boat.  Dave No.2 also took me to Aldi for a shop, so we're full in that department as well.  Thank you Mr. Smith.  Bring on the snow ......  we're ready for it! 

Got LOTS of snow pics, so I'd better take a chill pill before I try and do another blog tomorrow.