You step out gingerly.

All is well for a few paces, then your foot suddenly sinks a couple of feet until it comes to a hard layer.

You wade along in this way step by step, like a mudlark at Portsmouth Hard, hoping gradually to regain the surface.

Soon you do, only to repeat the exasperating performance ad lib., to the accompaniment of all the expletives that you can bring to bear on the subject.

What actually happens is that the warm air melts the surface sufficiently to cause drops of water to trickle down slightly, where, on meeting colder layers of snow, they freeze again, forming a honeycomb of icy nodules instead of the soft, powdery, granular snow that we are accustomed to." These high temperatures persisted for some days, and when, as occasionally happened, the sky was clear and the sun was shining it was unbearably hot.