The Endless Chicken - The Risotto

here she goes again, belching out steam.

No, not only the chicken but also the car. This morning was REALLY REALLY cold (imagine a squeaky voice for that) and I was very cold after I'd got firewood and scraped ice off the car and stuff and I was looking forward to the car warming up on the way to work so I could warm up my tootsies. However, what really happened was that it suddenly and rather alarmingly burst into a cloud of steam, that I thought was smoke. I pulled over onto the hard-shoulder and turned the engine off, grabbed my stuff and kinda walked away a bit to observe what happened next. When I was sure that it wasn't about to explode I went to find the little card with the number I had to phone in order to get help, find the little "oh dear, whoops, my car is broken" sign one has to put out and discovered that I even keep a high visibility vest, a first aid kit and a jack in the car. Aren't I good?
The bloke I talked to on the phone said he'd be with me in 25 minutes. That's not long I thought. But 25 minutes when you are cold and it's -9°c is REALLY REALLY long (squeaky voice again) by the time he got to me I was a shivering blue thing. In the car was cold, out of the car was cold, everything was cold.
Subi the car was then taken to our garage and spent the day there being looked after - all that had happened was that a pipe had come apart and the cooler water had been sprayed all over the hot engine - hence the cloud of "smoke". So, luckily, a cheap and cheerful problem to fix. A harder problem to fix is getting me warm again. I don't like being cold and I take ages to warm up properly. My legs are still cold now - it took a hot shower, three duvets, some hot chocolate, a bowl of soup and a cuddle-monster to stop me shaking. I think I need a holiday in Jamaica now to get me really warm again.
Obviously, everything I was supposed to do this morning had to get squished into the afternoon along with everything I had to do in the afternoon. That's why I've changed the plan for this evening - now on the list is wine, film, blanket....

p.s. the risotto still got steamed veg, creme fraiche and cheese for those who eat it added and it was yummy. In fact, I'm going to have a bit more now.