Hard to stay put!

Sitting here typing this and I've had to close the curtains due to the sunshine streaming through. It's still a chilly winter day with temperatures struggling to reach above 7 degrees but I guess even that is relativly mild by comparison to the average for this time of year. It's hard to stay put this weekend but I have to write Christmas cards and do my planning for next week at school as well as many other pre-Christmas jobs!

Went up to Ken Warings, (local coal merchant,) in Wyken this morning to buy 4 X 25Kg bags of coal, (Just over 20 quid!)That should keep me going for a while but even he was bemoaning the mild weather as 'bad for business' Arrived back home, opened the boot of the car and an entire bag decided to fall open mouth first out onto the grass! I stood watching them tumbling onto the grass verge as a boater walked past and reminded me that they're supposed to be on the fire, not on the grass!

The Boaters Phone Company contacted me this morning to apologise for the non-delivery of the 3G aerial I ordered. They told me that if it didn't turn up on Monday, they would re-ship a new one. I was also informed via email that they don't recommend T-mobile has the best coverage of 3G nationwide, the problem is, I have to balance the occasional lack of coverage with the cost of a free datacard whereas other companies are charging anything up to 200 pounds just for the card. I have found, however, that when I have to drop down to GPRS the signal is almost as quick as what I'm getting on 3 bars of UMTS service - it's just images that take longer to load.

Ah well, next weekend Simba is off to the grooming parlour for his pre-Christmas beautification treatment! (!) and I have to top to tail the boat ready for leaving it the following weekend as I travel down south for Christmas.

As well, as the 4 berths currently vacant in the marina, (as advertised on the Trinity Marinas website,) there is likely to be another 6 vacant berths soon hopefully - watch this space for details but you do have to ask why this is, given the current and well documented climate of shortage of moorings!?

Just to follow up the story on red diesel, here is the BMF press statement.

OK, Just received a call from the marina staff thanking me for the email and assuring me that words will be said in appropriate places. The staff member who phoned was polite and professional and went a long way in restoring my confidence. Thanks Trinity.