… Just as the sun was ri-ising …

I was lucky on Thursday.
We were not woken by the sound of the snow plough and there was no eerie silence after switching the alarm clock off.
A glance outside showed that no fresh snow had fallen –
life could commence as usual.

They have promised us a hard winter this time round. I don't know what that is supposed to mean, but I might have an inkling:
When I went to climb into the car to go to work, it was covered with a thick screen of ice. The temperature was minus ten degrees!

Not a great deal by Siberian standards, but we are in Switzerland and it is only November. The cold months don't arrive until February!

Luckily I'd thought to put one of those Aluminium blankets over my windscreen so that, at least, was free of ice.
I was, however unable to see out of the side windows.
Well, I sprayed the side windows and rear screen with ice remover (I don't even want to know what's in those bottles) and went back inside for a cup of coffee.

A few minutes later, I removed the sludge from the side windows with a squeegee and set off for work.
I arrived at work just ten minutes later than I had intended.
When I went to lift the hatch to get something out of the boot, it wouldn't lift on its own – there was a centimetre thick sheet of ice across the whole of it, except for the deep hole, where the wiper had been working.

Quite cold, I'd say …