For weeks and weeks the temperature outside has been sub-freezing, often falling below zero. It’s been so cold for so long that the city has warned us to keep a faucet running because the frost line is down as far as five feet in some places, freezing water lines.

Then it rained all day yesterday. But the ground was frozen, so all the water that couldn’t find its way to a storm drain just sat there.

Today, the temp’s back down to twenty. This morning’s commute will take place on a sheet of ice that stretches as far as the eye can see.