Updates

I have at long last given up with the HP all-in-one printer and upgraded to a Brother machine as seen above. Yesterday PC World agreed that my machine simply didn't work and so I managed to negotiate a deal on this machine! Installed simply, quality is outstanding, no paper jams and everything works!!

Despite a good sun yesterday, I resisted the temptation to go out in the boat given the forecast for today. Today the wind is biting but so far we have had no snow except for a few odd flakes.

Congratulations are, at last, due to BW for acknowledging the true extent of the unlicenced craft issue. Over 8% they tell us - that equates to just over 1 in 11 vessels, a lost revenue of £700,000 per year which could be spent on waterway improvements and restorations. Acknowledging the problem is one thing, they even talk about 'getting tough' on unlicenced boats but now I wait with baited breath to see the action. It seems to me as if BW need a serious strategy for dealing with the problem now and I look forward to reading about it in the near future. In the mean time, there is still pressure that can be applied int he form of keeping the debate open on forums and websites as well as in the press and by contributing to the online database on this site.

Just returned from a walk with Simba in which I had to rescue a family who were torn apart by my friend the swan! Half the family had managed to get split apart either side of a very angry looking and sounding swan who was pacing up and down protecting his ever growing pile of twigs that soon should take the form of a nest. I guided them round the long way to get back and avoid the swan and they followed me round. As I opened the gate andled the simba back into the relative security of my pontoon I overheard one of the children say, "why's he going in there - it's private isn't it?" I resisted the urge to inform them that the whole marina is actually private and would the screaming children please keep their voices down when they walk across our garden!!

I keep checking the status of the pussy willow buds in the hedges and my bulbs on the roof. Every time they start to grow and swell, a cold snap halts their progress. They are as desperate for spring to begin proper as I am. It will be amazing if anything grows this spring given all the false starts the weather has inflicted on us all. I even swept the chimney yesterday int he anticipation that it will be a good while yet before the stove can be shut down even just during the day times.