6:30am and I set the car alarm off four to five times. I forget the exact count. The first time it went off as I put the key in the door and it scared the bejesus out of me. I was still half asleep.

Shaken, I opened the door and popped the hood. The radiator seems to have sprung a leak and I had a cocktail of water and anti-freeze to pour in. 

When I went around to lift the hood the alarm went off yet again. Shite! The keys are on the car seat. 

As I try and jump to the car door I slip in the snow. Car alarm still wailing. I struggle like the proverbial upturned beetle before I eventually lunge at the keys, press the button and cut the alarm.

Two lights have now been turned on in neighbouring houses, but the alarm goes off another two to three times before I eventually close the car door and skulk off  in the dark.