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Receiving some very different smoke signals on my boat today. The wind is gusting to perhaps 50mph and occasionally reverses the flow in the stove flue - first thing I know when this happens is that the interior of the boat fills with smoke and the alarms all begin screeching at me. The only cure then is to open the bow doors and side-hatch, which v ery much defeats the point of having the stove lit in the first place! I shall have to let the stove go out this evening if I want to get any sleep at all - and any feeling of respiratory security. This is most definitelyt not a day when the smoke lingers languidly before rising vertically and disappearing into the sky. In fact, I think it's coming out, rushing around the boat and queuing up to get back in again... Ho hum. There's a promise of less wind tomorrow.

The Shopshire Union Canal was frozen over again this morning - and I slept in late, so the stove was gasping on his last bit of coal when I woke. I was a frzzled awakening, not sure which to do first; make coffee, tend to the stove, or get dressed in many, many layers. Now warm, caffeinated and looking out at a very bright winter's day with blue sky.

This is my home - the narrowboat Cardinal Wolsey. I've lived aboard for six years now, ambling slowly around England's canal system.

The Cardinal is 57' long, 6' 10" beam, flat-bottomed, 27" draught, 18 tons of steel. His - my boat is a "he" - top speed is theoretically 8 knots, but the speed limit on the canals is 4 knots... and my flat-out average is 2.75 knots. If you're in a rush on the canals, you're in the wrong place. The solar array provides most of my electrickery needs and heating in winter is by multi-fuel stove (generally coal). Fuel consumption is roughly 8mpg (diesel) - and for the stove in winter, approximately one sack of coal per four days & nights (in winter I also cook on the stove).

There are 2,000 miles of canal in England & Wales, I generally - in peacetime, not so much of late - travel 200-300 miles in a year. As I mentioned; the idea is not to rush anywhere. The Cardinal and I have been through Harecastle Tunnel (canal, 600' below ground), over the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (127' above ground), and up and down the Anderton Boat Lift onto the River Weaver (a fall and rise of 50'). Winter is my favourite time on the canals. You can't beat pootling along at 2mph with a bit o'mist and a low morning sun, with just the calls of lapwings for company. I've come nose to nose with badgers, had close encounters with squirrels, occasionally get iced in during winter when the canals freeze solid, and get to moor in rural places where there's no light-pollution and a chap can see more stars than most.

I am semi-retired and loving it. My photography here is whatever takes my fancy (including by default a lot of scenery and canals). My main blog at Diesel Electric Elephant (link here somewhere) records my travels and my travails on the water.

Cheers, Ian H., & nb Cardinal Wolsey.