We have been in a deep freeze for a few days. It’s 36 below. Loverboy started the van the other night to take Don to my aunt and uncle’s, and although the motor started, the vehicle refused to budge. The oil, he told me, was as thick as molasses.

I had plugged it in three hours previously. Either it’s the cold, or the transmission has gone “pouf!”

It was starting to snow when we arrived in the city yesterday, and had whited-out the opposite riverbank, seen from the ninth floor, by the time we left the building where we had to do our business. We phoned L's son to see if he’d like to go for lunch, but he wanted to sleep longer after working as a bouncer till four in the morning. So we headed onto the highway.