Cold (Dis)comfort

We've learnt a few lessons the hard way since moving to the U.S. The first was never to stop at Gary, Indiana, the second, not to attend any Thanksgiving Midnight Madness sales. Now we have a new one to add to the list. If you leave your home for a couple of days in the winter months, remember to leave the heating on.
We've had a hectic, but great new year. On New Year's Eve we attended the sort of party that our kids put photos up of on facebook (which is where you'll have to go if you want to see ours). We spent the night at an O'Hare hotel, then a beautiful couple of snowy days in Michigan, leaving before another two foot of snow landed on it.
"Are you sure we don't need to leave the water running?" I asked Grumpy before we left our house. "The pipes can freeze easily you know."
"Should be ok," he said. "We don't need to bother."
Given that the powder room faucet leaks anyway we thought no more about it.
We arrived home on Saturday night around 9 p.m. By then the temperatures outside were about -15 degrees Celsius.
We went in and took off our coats, then promptly put them back on again.
"I might have to sleep in the freezer," I told Grumpy, pulling my hat over my ears. "It'll be warmer than this."
The heating worked fine, but boy does it take a long time to reach 70/21 when you start so low.
Even the fire didn't help much, so in the end we got even more dressed and went to bed.
We could, I suppose, have warmed up with a hot shower, but it was too cold to get undressed, and anyhow the shower tap had frozen. Eventually Grumpy managed to get it working, but I swear it was shooting out icicles.