As this is the last day of my holidays, I am not including all the different blog sections, I hope to bring these all back tomorrow, even though tomorrow (in Scotland) is a bank holiday! This is because, 2nd January is a Scottish holiday, but 2nd January was on Saturday. The Scottish don’t get a bank holiday at the end of August, whereas the English do! That’s where the 2nd January comes from 🙂
When I was about to go to bed last night, I heard an unfamiliar creaking sound on Discovery – so I went outside, to see a man walking across the canal with his dog following! It was after midnight, so I guess he had been drinking and couldn’t be bothered to walk round. It was a weird sight – and also a brave thing to do. Over the last few days I have watched people trying the ice, but then not walking on it. This guy, just went for it!
Saying that, before he got to the other side, I heard a splash, so I guess the ice broke and he went into the water. But he appeared on the towpath – his dog was fine.
It was kind of weird, realising my boat is a lot more vulnerable when folk walk on the ice. This morning, I recalled the story to Fiona my neighbour. She said a few years ago the ice was 9 inches frozen on the canal – there were people cycling on the canal, a woman pushing a buggy with a child in it and lots of other folk walking on it.
This morning, I saw some ice from the canal on the towpath – about 3 fingers wide!
I also went to where the guy had walked to see if there was any evidence in the canal – it was all frozen over again, but some evidence of where the ice cracked (foreground of photo).
This morning, I headed to Hermiston Gait (out of town shopping centre) to get some more paint from B&Q. I walked to Haymarket and caught the tram, later realising the canal runs close by and I could have cycled there in 25 minutes!
But getting the tram allowed me to take lots more Covid Sign photos 🙂
In B&Q car park, there was this sign – is it a Covid sign? It seems quite permanent!
On the way back to the tram, I took some other photos.
Whilst waiting for the tram back to Haymarket, I took some photos of Covid signs at Edinburgh Park train station.
As I walked back to the boat, I saw this great mural in Morrison Street.
Then I picked up Honey the Dog and due to it raining heavily, we got the bus to the flat. I did a few hours of painting, then got the bus back.
As I come to the end of this blog, it’s super short, but hey it’s the holidays (just!). It has been raining on and off all evening and just had a massive rain shower which I could hear on Discovery’s roof.
I must say I think I have finally sussed the wood burner! I’ve found a new setting which allows it to burn very gradually all through the night or day and not go out. This evening when I returned to the boat it was a lovely 16 degrees centigrade!
Honey seems a bit fed up today as we didn’t got for a walk – hopefully tomorrow, we will get across to Arthur’s Seat on the way to the flat.
The temperature has increased a little today, up to about 3 degrees, hence the rain and not snow! But it looks to be dropping again through the night, so maybe more ice in the morning.
I am now much more aware of how icy it is, making sure I put salt down around the boat, so Honey doesn’t slip. Although, yesterday the salt was hurting her feet, resulting in her limping. But I just rub some snow on her feet and she is fine!
Hope you’ve had a fun weekend.
Stay Safe!
Jim xx
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