We have now had a whole week of hard frost, with no let up during the day. The nights have been clear so that more dew descends and freezes and the north facing roofs of houses nearby now look as though there has been a snowfall, whereas it is actually the slow build up of hoar frost night by night. The forecast for this area seems to show a slight shift of temperature to the plus side of zero on Thursday and Friday so perhaps the anti cyclone is breaking down and some warmer air beginning to move in. Since we do not go out very much, and indeed have no need to go out, we are not greatly inconvenienced, but I well remember the days when I had to go to work at an early hour and the tricks we got up to, and the devices we used, in order to be able to use the car in the morning without too much delay. Car batteries have improved immensely over the years, as have their electrical systems with the advent of the alternator, but it was quite common for people to put their car battery on a trickle charge overnight so that the pavement was criss crossed by electrical leads coming from the houses and going to the charger somewhere in the car. No one seemed to trip up because of it, but one can imagine the reaction today to such ‘dangerous’ practices.
Yesterday we set to and did all of our Christmas cards (hopefully) because we want to use up our old second class stamps – and today is the last posting date for those. We also learnt that one of our granddaughters is expecting her first baby which was as nice a Christmas present as you could ask for.
