Xmas and New Year afloat

Well, what a surprise. A sunny Xmas day and no snow, rain or Arctic winds. The regulation little Xmas trees were out in the saloon for an airing and it felt very festive:

It was nice enough to tempt us into a trip but as the Cardiff Bay barrage was closed, we would have been restricted to the Bay area itself. Instead we hit Cosmeston country park ( see website for more info, nice place) and went for a walk with Steve the Cardiff waterbus man and Bronwen the spaniel. Actually, we walked and Bron ran around a lot, including stop off's in puddles and anything that looked muddy. So glad Steve had to take her home not us.....

Of course, it all came to a grinding halt on Boxing day when it just didn't stop raining. We didn't get off the boat. We did manage a trip around the bay though over the weekend - glorious sunshine too. That was followed by a main engine oil change. the last one was in Holyhead when we were en route to Scotland and so it was time even if the book said the hours were not "up" yet (we like fresh oil in the engine when she only gets intermittent runs). This was a little harder than usual as the engine room is currently a store for everything (or so it seems). Flybridge seats, bimini cover, seat covers, tube heaters that we use when leaving the boat for our various jaunts ashore etc etc etc. All is all, not the usual tidy environment.


New Year was good and bad. Good because John (the knees) and Tina came to stay with us. Bad because the stuff usually resident for the winter in the forecabin (aka shed) also had to go into the engine room. We watched Cardiff devils Ice hockey team thrash Hull 7-0 and again, were amazed at the atmosphere in the arena and the action on the ice:

New year was taken very seriously by John as you can see from this image. We have to warn you that only a little alcohol had been consumed before this picture was taken and so there is little excuse for his expression:

Sadly, owing to the weather, the knees stayed covered. However for al you girls who need a fix, see the earlier Barbados post. Tina on the other hand was looking after Patrick very well.  Tina gave him a very Welsh cwtch which he seemed to enjoy:

Patrick seemed happy to have yet another admirer (another in a long string of them) and lots of attention. No wonder his tummy is now a light shade of grey rather than white. We might have to put him on a strict cuddles diet...