Trundled along to Tetchill as I want to organise a delivery of wood and Tetchill is a really good place. The canal is right next to a car park by Tetchill bridge so access is easy.
Canal and River Trust have suggested that boaters who really do not want to be stuck on the Llangollen can get their boat lifted out at the boatyard at Whitchurch and put back in wherever they choose. The cost of this would be between £1500 and £3000, more than I am prepared to pay and probably more than any continuous cruiser could afford, but I am sure some people will take this route. Coal boat Lindsay has been craned out of the water and craned back in again at Whitchurch so as to service all the boats trapped on the Llangollen. £3000 (because it is a 70 footer) is a lot of money to recoup just to provide a service to their regular customers, I do hope it works for them. Quite a relief as we were wondering how we would cope with having to go in to marina's whenever we wanted fuel.

Overnight snow might cause a problem with the wood delivery I have organised for Wednesday as the roads around here are not high priority for gritting or snow ploughs.

Coal boat Lindsay arrived. Checked with Sven if I could order chandlery from him and have it delivered on his next trip. OK in principle but best to place the order with Ruth who would organise it and arrange for Sven to drop it off for me on his usual trip.

Iowner.

Dennis.

Delivery organised for today from Travis Perkins of lengths of 2 x 1, 3 x 1, 4 x 1 and 5 x 1 as well as a length of gutter for a project I have in mind. I like to have a small stock of timber available so that in the event I decide to make something I don't have to scurry around and spend loads of time carrying lengths of 2 x 1 or even 4 x 2 back to the boat from the nearest timber merchant, which could be several miles away.
Additionally, by purchasing from the same supplier each time I get the same size. It seems that each merchant has it's own idea of 2 x 1 and they are all slightly different.
Unloaded my delivery and balanced most of it on the style sides (so as to not get it all wet in the snow) while I carried it all bit by bit to the boat.
Anyway, the driver had a problem with the snow everywhere and nearly got stuck as there is a slight slope from the main road down to where the boat is parked. He managed to extricate himself and get away in the end.

As is my wont I checked out the carpet shop in Ellesmere and they had an off cut of lino that was a bit too big for the heads on Iowner and priced at a bit more than I was comfortable with, especially as I would have to discard most of it due to the shape of the room. Asked the young lad there if he could keep his eyes open for something similar but cheaper.
League of Friends charity shop again. Got another couple of shirts and another pair of trousers, just too good to miss.

Just Checking.The lad in the carpet shop (who apparently is the owners son) told me that I could have the off cut at a price I was happy with and he would trim 15 inches off one side so that it would fit my space more closely, only charging me for the piece I wanted. He asked where the boat was and when I told him it was in the arm he said he would bring it along at four o'clock this afternoon when the shop closed. True to his word he turned up with my off cut just after four and brought along the strip that he had cut off in case it was any use to me as it was no use to them. Bonus. Always useful as kneelers and the like.

Fitting the lino, a ten minute job.
Of course, the first job was to take up all the carpet tiles, sand the particle board floor, fill all the indentations and dents with pollyfilla, repeat (several times) till reasonably smooth and level. Three coats of floor paint to seal against any water spills and I am ready for lino laying.

This ten minute job is going quite well, it's only taken four days so far! I won't try and describe the contortions and convolutions I went through trying to get the lino fitted but this is the shape of the bathroom and I had to jiggle the full size piece of lino around in the bathroom while trying to cut it to shape. I got it almost right but there was a tiny gap around one edge so I decided to fit a small angle trim all round as a finisher, my version of a skirting board. Now it looks grand.

I have noticed that straight lines have a bulge in them and this makes me think that I must have some sort of growth or abnormality on the back of my right eyeball. Time I got it checked out.
Trip to Oswestry to do some shopping. While I was there I called in to Specsavers to organise an appointment with the optician and the audiologist. Booked an eye test. They don't do NHS audiology so I will have to get my hearing aides sorted out elsewhere.
Fuel boat delivery

4 bags each.

Hermione and Edie left for home after spending a few days on Iowner finding what winter is like on a narrow boat. If that doesn't put them off nothing will. Edie was really disappointed that there was no snow, she had been looking forward to it.