Born Slippy

The day dawned extremely cold, but dry. As forecast, it gradually warmed up during the day, hitting the giddy heights of +1.0C around lunchtime. Unfortunately, this meant it was now warm enough to snow, and a succession of flurries was the theme for the afternoon. But when night fell, it started to freeze again. And all the bits of our road that had been clear for the past few days, were now sheet ice. Mrs C was going out for her camera club Xmas meal tonight and asked if I would drive her there as she didn’t feel confident getting out of our estate with the roads looking very slippy. I made it there and back, but I was very grateful for having 4WD as I could feel it working overtime, just getting out of our cul-de-sac.
Not the only ice related incident of the day. The heating didn’t fire up at lunchtime and the boiler was showing a fault message. I phoned the plumber and he told me I was not alone and he was working flat out trying to fix burst pipes and non functioning central heating. He told me what to do - pour boiling water on the condensate pipe until the ice melted and then reset the boiler - and said he would try and swing by if he got a chance. Fortunately, the fix worked but he still called in to check everything was working and, I suspect, to take ten minutes out of the day and have a hot drink! His phone was ringing almost constantly with people seeking assistance but he had to decline them all as he was prioritising existing customers. At least I know what to do next time, though I’m hoping that the promised warmer weather this weekend will mean I don’t have to.
And even though it’s tricky just trying to stand upright on our road, I’ve got to admit it’s goes look quite picturesque…