We’re too far north to have experienced the worst of Storm Goretti. Even so, when I looked outside before I went to bed last night, I was surprised to see a covering of snow; but it turned to rain during the night, and by this morning most of it had washed away — or been turned into a slippery slush. It gave the canal a sort of matt finish. This morning was just grey and dull and quite cold again, but as it wasn’t raining I thought I’d get my steps done early again. This time I walked south, doing Middlewood Way first. There was more snow remaining down there.
The way the snow had been dripped on by the trees also made some unusual patterns on the ice in the ditches. And although it looks as though the white bits are floating on water, it’s actually clear ice underneath, and it’s pretty thick too.
I walked down as far as the lane which links to canal bridge 25, then switched to the towpath. It some places there are stretches of unfrozen water, then the ice just suddenly starts.
When I got back, I set about emptying the loo. You can skip this whole section if you’re not interested in composting toilets! We’ve used wooden cat litter pellets in the solids contain for a long time, but the Compoost loo we have on this boat had a stirrer which is much closer to the base of the bucket, and sometimes the pellets get a bit stuck (before they disintegrate). So I thought I’d try going back to coco fibre (which is what Compoost recommend) — particularly as I had a brick of the stuff that’s been in reserve for a few years. Two days ago I put it in a bucket with some water; 24 hours later it was still sat there, having absorbed very little of it. Maybe it was because it was old. I had to take a screwdriver to it to break it up, and left it another 24 hours. Today I broke up the pieces some more — in the process putting the screwdriver through the bottom of the bucket! At least it was only a recycled bird food container. I ended up having to crumble most of it by hand, but once done it does give a nice base.
I put two litres of it in the loo bucket, which turned out to be about half of what I had — so I had to patch up the base of the container so I could keep it for next time. Wooden cat litter is a great deal less faff, but let’s see how we get on with the coco fibre.
This afternoon I have made a podcast, which will become episode 2 of series 2. I had everything I needed for that one, while episode 1 is still a work in progress. I’m also experimenting with AI to produce updated artwork. The problem is that every time it makes something better it also makes something else worse. I might be better off with an old fashioned photo editor.
Some people ‘fluff’ up their cat litter with water when they first start each bucket. I think an inch of litter with enough water to break it up to ‘fluff’,. If your coia doesn’t work out give it a go.
As a true boater I’m always interested in talking toilets ! Mandy our boaty neighbour had one built – not sure of it was a kit or not. Having brought another cassette (full) home and lifted the man hole cover in the back garden and disposed of the contents the idea or bringing home (occasionally ) a bag of ‘compost’ appeals as does not having two spare cassettes in the forecabin most of the time. Maybe it is time to stop thinking and start ordering the parts – it would be a self build and we’d keep the existing cassette system in store until we were sure it was right for us. So interested in the process and materials used when in use