They're not retired yet. Well Mum is but Dad isn't so they took a 3 week holiday over Christmas And it isn't in the Provence, it's in the Correze which had more snow than here! hehe.

Had fun this morning. We have lots of condensation in the flat which I try to get rid of but it's pretty awkward keeping on top of it. I've been opening windows when I can but without double glazing and central heating it's pretty much impossible. Anyway, this morning I went to open them... every single window was frozen closed. From the inside.

Had to put the kettle on and boil the ice away so I could open them, then wipe them over and leave them open all day even though it's been -2 for most of it just to get rid of the water!

Wow what, windows that aren't double-glazed? Damn. I though those were only still in really old buildings in Western Europe? What with our crappy weather and cold winters...last time I lived in a house with 'thin windows' was in early childhood. In the *counts* 5 places I lived after that there was double glazing. And central heating.

lol and damn at the same time @ the windows freezing from the inside though. Poor Pev. Sounds like a good reason to move, if there ever was one...

Yeah well the problem is the flats are technically in a shopping centre but the shopping centre owns shops that aren't part of the main building and are on the main street in Walsall. The flats above the shops are not rented that much (this one was empty 2.5 years before we took it and the previous tenant was a druggy... doubt he felt the cold much). So they haven't ever really been done up.

Windows are iced again in the kitchen this morning but I was able to open them easily as I'd gotten rid of most of the water yesterday. About to go in there and pour boiling water over them again to remove the ice and leave them open to remove that water. My room wasn't iced today but has condensation again.

It's great survival training Yesterday for most of the day I had my window open and only a vest top on with no jumper and no halogen heater on. It was -2 outside as well. Trouble is if I'm first in work I tend not to put the heating on and everyone else takes ages to realise why they're freezing to death

Well i've been shoveling snow down from the critical areas of the roof for two days now. Unfortunately i dont have a picture since my father is off to Finland and there was no one else around to take one.

Picture: frozen snow. In the reflection you can sort of see me with a safety harness that i used for NOT falling off the roof. And before you think soft snow, i can stand on that pile of snow and not sink in it up to my eyeballs

That's an amazing picture It's supposed to snow for the next 4 days here, had a few flurries today but nothing much.