A bit about my Gran.

We've got as far as the bottom of Hillmorton Locks, the ice has been broken up by a few boats so we are hoping it will be mostly thawed by tomorrow. We have been watching the snooker most of the day, U.K. Championship. Brilliant match this afternoon, Sean Murphy v. 17 yr. old Belgian Luca Becel, Murphy just pipped the lad on the pink in the eleventh frame. Amazing.
Not been out with the camera so:

"Isn't it cold in the winter?" How many times does that question get asked? Could try, "Lost all my toes to frostbite, please contribute to my coal fund". The camera has frozen (Oh my, what a pun) the Eco-Fan which is actually blowing the warm air down the boat at a rate of knots.

One of my most prized possessions:

a watercolour, painted about 1895, of my maternal grandmother, Rosina Kate Cosstick, born 1885, nee Lindsey. The artist is unknown but I presume it was the lady of the house in Coulsdon, Surrey, where her mother, Kate Lindsey, was cook. For possibly the best part of a century the picture languished in various cupboards until it was discovered, with a couple of other watercolours, by my step father who passed it on to me. I remember her as the fearsome matriarch of the Cosstick family, we were expected for Sunday tea each week, the fact that we lived fifty miles away and our transport was an ageing Norton and sidecar was irrelevant. Mind you her teas were worth the journey. As she lived in Seaford in Sussex fish/shellfish always featured. Can you believe that every one of the family had their own winkling pin? Crumpets, muffins and her special coffee, walnut sponge. She was also a dab hand at home made wine and making rag rugs.
They don't make them like that anymore.

Watch this space............