Cold weather

Monday

The weather is extraordinarily cold, but still no snow for Leamington Spa, despite tales from the north of impassable roads and travel chaos. Mr A had to use the car in the morning, after it had been sitting immobile for at least a week. Aside from the difficulty opening the iced-up doors, there was ice on the inside of the windscreen.

When I needed the car for badminton in the evening, I had to scrape the windows down again (thankfully outside only), and again two hours later when I came out of the hall to drive home. At least I was warm - running around wildly for two hours is good for generating heat, as well as mental well-being.

The car thermometer said the outside temperature was -3.5 ºC when I got home. Normal for some places, maybe, but very unusual for us.

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Tuesday

Snow! But not very much, and not for long. A dusting only. I am wishing for snow because it looks nice and makes everything quiet. If roads are impassable next Monday, however, I will not be able to get to my exam, which is at 9 a.m. sharp.

Without the inclement weather, when it comes to travelling to an exam I allow more than two hours for the one hour journey, in case of trouble. If there is serious risk of proper snow and ice, I will have to consider travelling up the previous night.

We have been very generous with the heating while we are both working at home, but today I decided on extreme measures. I am fully dressed for skiing: no gloves, hat or goggles, but including salopettes, ski socks and all thermals. So far, it is working.

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Wednesday

It snowed all night, and we have a lovely few inches of silent white quilt covering everything. Mr A proposed a tobogganing outing, and I considered carefully before agreeing. I've got to the stage where I'm nearly scared enough to work really hard on the revision and not consider doing anything else, but it is only Wednesday and there are still four full days in which to panic.

It was a good thing we decided to walk rather than drive across town, because the road leading up to Newbold Comyn and the sports centre and golf course was an ice rink, and the police were there trying to sort out the cars that couldn't get out. There was only time for a few runs, all pretty tame really except for an inadvertent dive into a bunker. The golf course doesn't have much in the way of mountains compared with the Alps or the Pyrenees. It put a smile on my face, though.

I've contacted the accommodation office on campus, and I shall probably travel up on Sunday and stay overnight. The forecast shows continued cold weather, so even if it doesn't snow any more it will be a nasty journey up the M1 motorway early on Monday morning. Much better to travel on Sunday afternoon nice and slowly during daylight.

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Thursday

No more tobogganing excursions for me. It's revision all the way now.