The kindness of strangers

We had hoped to be able to move on today after a bit of a thaw as we were nearly out of water & out of coal but although there is clear water around us, 100yds further on the canal towards Coven is still  iced up. Back towards Autherley Junction is mostly clear but we are facing the wrong way & it's along way to reverse! 


We decided to busy ourselves collecting some wood this morning & then make a decision at lunch time, hoping maybe that some brave soul may have done some ice breaking in the meantime or a rapid thaw have taken place.
 Last night a boat had pulled in behind us & this morning we got chatting,  turns out he was the boat that had  passed us yesterday ice breaking & we had chuntered a bit at the time as it sounded  as if sheets of ice were slamming into our hull!  He had gone up to the junction to use the services & was going to do a bit more ice breaking to get back to his mooring just through bridge 70 but before he went on his way he was kind enough to offer us a bag of fuel & 20 litres of water! We gratefully accepted & off he went crashing through the ice.


 3 boats are moored just up from us & we have spoken to Jeff (Nb Nauti Nauti) a few times in passing & this morning  his wife Carol popped over to say hello & see if we were okay & if we needed anything as they have a car. She mentioned that Carvers will deliver coal so we will ring them tomorrow.
After lunch we decided to walk up to the Co-op in Coven to get a paper & check how bad the ice was between us & the winding hole hoping that the boat going through might have cleared a channel but it didn't look good, still a lot of ice so we have decided to stay put. I bought a 25litre water container a few weeks ago & we have a trolley so the plan is to walk up to the junction & fill the container daily which should see us through. 


Having decided on our plan of action we settled in to watch the snooker when Carol returned to say Jeff was taking one of the other boats ( that was facing the right way!) up  to the junction to get some water & had 2 aqua rolls that he would fill for us & drop off when they came back, which he very kindly did - & Carol has also offered to take me to the launderette on Tuesday - gosh, so thanks to others thoughtfulness & a bit of organising we reckon we should be fine staying here a little longer.