Dear Diary,...

January was a rubbish month for cycling -- a total of 15.2 miles logged. And February being winter, maybe not so much better.

After having passed 4000 miles on the way back from last holiday, the car went past 5000 coming home from work last Thursday (on a day when it was -4 all journey in, and still sub-zero for going home time).

Cold weather at the end of last week came of a sudden, and I'd forgotten to replace the bubble-wrap over the pond; so Saturday morning that was 2" thick with ice, humped under the plank that was supposed to protect against gentle frost, more than enough to take my weight, but I managed to cut a belated air-hole -- most of the way through with a pruning saw, then hot water for the last bit. That let water gush out from below, and then I could chip away until there was a reasonably sized hole.

I also harvested some sprouting broccoli ahead of the snow that fell after dark as a warm front came over.

Sunday morning was snow-clearing so that Karen's morning call had somewhere dry to park -- but even then the snow was starting to thaw on the car. The amount of snow meant that it didn't shift in a hurry -- the close was quite deep in slush this morning; and I was glad I packed a shovel, as I needed to dig myself clear several times in the car-park at work.

Coming home early to work remotely for the afternoon, I didn't need to dig past what I'd already cleared, but the traction warning was going all the time I was in the car-park. The rest of the drive was just wet -- much black ice if it frosts tonight -- and the close almost clear.

Forecasts this morning were also rubbish -- the Met Office said it was foggy; The Weather Outlook (Forecast issued: 06/02/2012 08:06:10) that it was -5C when Cambridge airport latest METAR reported

Time: 07:50 UTC
Visibility: 8000 m
Clouds: Broken sky, at 800 feet above aerodrome level
Temperature: 1C