Saturday, January 09, 2010

When needs must!

PICT0005 I have no problem with the weather being cold, nice warm and snug on the boat. The only thing spoiling my “ smugness”, ( there’s that word again Pickles no 2)! is the fact I have no water! I do have some in the tank and I am being very frugal with that, but once that goes I don’t quite know what I will do.

You can’t really take water for granted on a boat as you do in a house, you only have water at your disposal when you keep your tank topped up, in this weather that is nigh impossible! All the water taps on this mooring have been turned off as we have had a few bursts, sooo , there is no water to replenish the tank.

Strip washes at the moment and a trip to Mums for a shower. I have been scraping snow off the roof of the boat and heating it to wash the dishes, very, “ Little House on the Prairie-ish”! it does save using the tank water though which I would sooner use for cups of tea and cooking. Heth, ( Takey Tezey) was worried I might scrape up snow that Bobby may have earlier used as a toilet!, but I assured her that was why I was taking it from the roof, as he doesn’t, do “it” up there. Mind you I can’t say the same for birds that fly over! Anyway all the snow I scraped up was as pure as the driven…… you know how it goes!

I am heating the snow on top of the wood burner in a pan, very boaty I must say, but its all good fun. I don’t want to be a fair weather boater, so I will take any challenges that are thrown my way, ( within reason )! This cold spell is set to last according to the weather forecast, so we will see how I feel about these," challenges” after being without water for a few weeks!

I am sure I will be able to organise some containers of water from somewhere if the situation gets really bad.

Earlier on today I was filled with horror to see two lads playing with a ball walking down the middle of the frozen canal!. My heart was in my mouth watching them, they were totally oblivious to the danger they were in, if they were to fall through the ice into the water….. it just doesn’t bear thinking about.

Well must go, my snow is boiling! 

4 comments:

Mark said...

Hi Deb, Mark Haverland from Costa Mesa, Ca. here, Why is a watermaker not used on narrow boats? I know that they are a bit pricey $2,000 USD. But they work on 12V and produce drinkable water! Is there a reason for not using them?

life afloat on nb tickety boo said...

Hi Mark, to be honest I haven't heard of these, "watermakers", so I don't know how popular they are in the Narrow boat world. It sounds like a great idea. I couldn't afford $2,ooo at the minute, but it is something I would look into if my finances change! Thankyou, Debbie.

Miss Ann Thrope said...

I was in the same boat as you Debbie... very very low on water. Luckily just been able to refill again but was having baby-wipe washes and bought in some bottled water for drinks. Luckily in the cold you don't sweat so much so aren't so dirty LOL.

Feel for you though!

Karen x

Beatnheart said...

Just stumbled on you and am very interested in what you are doing...I know someone else in the London area with a "narrowboat"...Had a picnic on it one sunny day in 2006...I would love to follow you and your adventures..Cynthia