Thick as a Brick in Brum

It's not just the rural waterways that are affected by the icy weather. Although the BCN in the centre of Birmingham was ice-free last Friday, not very far away - on the Birmingham & Fazeley between the bottom of Farmers Bridge locks and the top of the Aston flight the canal was completely frozen.

The ice was not only thick enough to support a traffic cone, but also several half-bricks as well as all the other assorted rubbish that the local citizenry continue to throw into the canal even in this weather. It didn't look as if there had been a boat along here for weeks and the way things are going it may be a few more weeks before anything comes this way!