I found this in a pub toilet. The Magistrate said I must stop taking photos in toilets as it can lead to misunderstanding.

 It's a pub in Moorside, Oldham with one bar in 

Lancashire and another in Yorkshire. 

They don't have Happy Hour in either 

of them but it is only £2.90 for a pint of Landlord

All good things come to an end and so my birthday fortnight has run its course ending officially on 29th January. OK I know there aren't 16 days in a fortnight but what the hell.
After the jolly at the Akash (see last post) I was chuffed to join Pam and Natalie on Monday for lunch at Bill's in Berko for which Natalie kindly paid. It was very good lunch and it was good to see Nat happy with her recent triumph over the evil motor insurance bods.
On the Thursday I went to my sister's in Lancashire for a celebratory lunch with Tom and Moira and Valerie and Martin at the excellent Navigation Inn, Dobcross, adjacent to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal (http://thenavigationdobcross.co.uk/)

A fine lunch in good company which rendered me horizontal for the little that remained of the afternoon (the lunch that is, not the company)

Tom enjoys my birthday balloons...........and a small whisky

and another small whisky with his lunch

A faggot to start-different but very tasty

Tom has recently had cataract ops on his eyes (where else?!}  and after 50 years I now have to get used to him without glasses.....of the spectacle variety that is.

On the day of the lunch Tom and Moira had new reclining chairs delivered-just in time for a post lunch siesta; though Tom does look a bit like Stalin laid out for the proletariat to view.

Back to Hertfordshire on Saturday for a quiet weekend,,,,,,which culminated in a most enjoyable party at Pam's with Pat,Andrew,Matthew and Katy and Richard and Ally, all neighbours, and a few bottles of bubbles and nibbles. Very pleasant. I must have enjoyed it quite a bit because when Pam said on Monday that was the last leg of my birthday that was exactly how I felt in the morning-on my last legs. A sensible day beckoned and the celebrations officially closed.

Phew-great fun.

And then Pam got a call from Ollie in Sri Lanka to announce that he and Jessica were engaged. Just a small celebration then....hee hee.

Into February and the weather has warmed up and the rain has come down. A major delivery of diesel, coal and gas has wiped the best part of 200 quid off the account so I'm hoping that delivery will see me to the end of the winter. Calor gas has now gone up to £29 reflecting the world wide rise in oil prices. It did not of course go down below £27 last year thus not reflecting the world wide reduction in oil prices, The Fuel boats are a marvellous service to those along the cut working in all weathers to provide such an essential service. I ran it close this time as I was nearly out of gas and diesel because the fuel boats got trapped in the ice and delayed for nearly a fortnight. We had a rhyming exchange of texts which I publish below to show that if Jules ever gives up running the workboats there is a place for Canal Poet Laureate

I wrote:

If you crack the ice
That would be nice
And not pop a rivet
Would be trific
But if you've got some gas
Would be a blast
And 4 Homepride fuel
Really cool.
Plus a diesel tank filled
I would be thrilled

Mike

Jules replied:
We're stuck in the ice at Cook's wharf,
It's not where we wanted to be,
We'd rather be shifting our goods 
From the motor boat and the butty,
We'll bring you what you require 
As soon as the cut starts to flow,

So be spare with your gas & your fuel 
Until we can go Daddy go.

Splendid. Jules ought to call herself Coalridge


Life on the mooring continues to roll on despite being extremely soggy underfoot but the days are getting longer and Spring is not that far away, as the brave daffs here show.

I have a shed full of stuff left by nb June Rose when the mooring was vacated and June told me to help myself for our St George's Auction (22nd April). So now I have my shed(s) plus this one to sort but not before the rest of my mooring gets tidied. And that wont happen till it stops raining. Manana.
As I write the wind is blustering away and a proper storm is forecast so it might be the manana after manana.

Time to batten down the hatches and cook my curry. Until next time.....