He had to really pull hard on the driver's door to get it open. He got in and unzipped his jacket and took Martha out and set her down on her cushion, which he had carried out of the church with him. He put the space heater on and started up the Land Rover. It turned over at the first attempt. They sat there letting the engine warm up. He de-iced the windscreen but the rest of the windows were frozen solid. It was like being in a tunnel of frozen snow! As they sat there waiting for the 4x4 to defrost, he mused over the night's events which had occurred. What a night it had been! Martha hissing and blowing raspberries in church, no service took place, he was blamed by his fellow parishioners, ordered into the minister's office to his utter embarrassment and mortification, was given a severe dressing down by the minister, who he had regarded as a friend for years but now realises that the minister is nothing but an egotistic, arrogant, self-important, dour, pompous gasbag with no sense of humour! Mr Finleyson then thought of his parents. He was at that moment glad they were dead, because what had occurred tonight would surely have killed them! He could not wait to get home to his warm and toasty house, where the roaring Aga and the Inglenook fireplace awaited them. He shook his head and smiled. He glanced at his watch, it was now 3:45 a.m. As he put the clutch in with his left foot and put it into first gear. The roads would be treacherous, so he put the auxiliary four wheel drive on and very slowly took his foot off the clutch and the Land Rover started to take off. The road was like a skating rink. He could feel the back of the 4x4 swing out. The worse thing you could do was to hit the brakes on black ice. Even driving a 4x4 was not making a blind bit of difference. He had actually driven on worse roads than this in his long driving career. The 4x4 started to skid sideways. He turned into the skid, taking his foot off the clutch and throttle pedal. He down shifted, the 4x4 straightened itself up. He was doing five mph and he drove like this all the way home. All fifteen miles! There were an assortment of abandoned cars littered along the verge and in ditches on the roadside. As he neared the entrance to his farm, it was still dark. He checked his watch again. It read 4:45 a.m. It had taken him an hour to drive the fifteen miles to his farm from the village! Martha was asleep. What a bloody disaster of a night it had been. Since he usually got up to start his days work on the farm at 5:00 a.m., there was no point in going to his bed. He would put Martha in her bed in front of the warm Aga, so she could get a few hours sleep. He would then go upstairs and take a long, hot bath, then put on fresh clothes and begin his day. He would have breakfast and his usual two cups of hot strong coffee, rebuild the fire in the Inglenook fireplace, restock the Aga with wood to keep it going for the day. As it was so cold, he put logs in the wood burning stove which was in the dining room. He would leave the door to the dining room open to circulate the heat. Tom would be here at 6:00 a.m. to give him a hand for the day. He would let Martha have a long lie without being disturbed. He had missed sharing his cereal and toast with Martha but there was always tomorrow. Today was Christmas day but to Mr Finleyson it was just another day of working the farm. He would send Tom home early to have Christmas dinner, while he and Martha watched the Queen's speech to the nation. His mind drifted back to last night and he realised the night had not been a total disaster after all. It had turned out to be a very merry Christmas, thanks to Martha!!