Snow storm!

I can confirm, reports of it being "cold" up till now have been exaggerated. Last night we had out first proper snow storm with gale force winds and heavy snow. When I went to work this morning it was -30c and -46c with the wind chill! The ridiculous outfit I'm wearing on the left was really the bare minimum I could get away with!

Because of the very real risk of hypothermia and frostbite at these temperatures, the kids in the village aren't allowed out today and all the schools are closed.

As you can imagine, it was pretty chilly in the house last night, the boiler was working overtime to keep most if the house warm, but you could really feel the cold when you stood next to the windows, which had iced up on the inside.

We went down to our bedroom in the basement at about 11pm and found that the windows (which are at ground level) had filled up with snow between the double glazing and that snow was also obscuring our view of our outside thermometer. Whilst I went upstairs to grab the camera, Jim decided to pull back the first layer of glazing and tap the outside window to clear the snow from the thermometer... something which (should you be wondering) isn't advisable when it's -30c. One tap and the outside window shattered! So with snow blowing in, we had to seal up the window with a bin bag, parcel tape and a blanket!

Of course, we're already scheduled to have one window replaced this week as part of building works, so I'm rather hoping that the window they are taking out might be the same size as the one that shattered! By the way, Jim's missing out on all of this, he's left this morning for a week of adventure training in the Rockies!

By the way, I thought you'd like to see some video of our entertainment at the Burns Night celebrations in the mess. We had pretty good seats!