No end in sight

As if the freezing conditions over the past 10 days or so wasn't enough, a water mains burst 100metres further up the street two days ago.  The council were quick to send out a team to fix the burst pipe, but, when they had repaired it, off they went in their van leaving this sheet of thick ice on the road.  Perhaps they thought it would melt by itself. However, while they were working you would have thought they would notice the brilliant sunshine did not shine on the bottom the street and besides the water from the mains, it rained yesterday and this very thick ice developed. Our neighbour at the end of the road asked J if he had a pick axe to try and break up the ice as they weren't able to break into it and they had tried salt, but that was of no use.  J did manage to break up quite a bit of it, but it is freezing again tonight.
P.S.  We have our own salt bin, as the street is not really long enough to warrant a gritter coming down, but J is also the only person who seems to use it to clear the ice from the pavement on his way up to our driveway.  Perhaps we need a tennants' meeting.