Ho, ho, ho

So that's the festive season over for another twelvemonth. It's been a bit of a heavy one for the Napier family, one way and another, but at least it gave us a chance to catch up with the offspring and grand-offspring, so not all bad.

Fellow moorer Ian on Nobby tells me that a review of my recent postings found that the weather was taking up more and more of the tale; I guess that's not surprising, given how dramatic it's been, but I'll try and talk about other stuff at least some of the time!

The Sainsbury's order turned up in good time this morning, so we're fully stocked again, and I'm almost completely recovered from the savage cold that's doing the rounds. (Pauses to sneeze.) Sheila is a few days behind, so she's spending quite a lot of time snuggled up under a rug on her chair.

Also moored on D jetty with Nobby is Tamora; they came in just for the weekend at the end of November, and so are still here. Needing to try to get south of Atherstone before that lock flight closes for maintenance on Monday, her crew made a determined effort to break out today. After an hour, they had to give it up, having not quite managed to pull clear of the jetty.

The ice on the cut outside is quite thin now, but it's still between one and two inches thick in the marina; you can move back and forward in it, but turning is just too hard yet. With a slow thaw set to continue, we might be in a position to move about by this time next week.