Shopping done! 
I waited until around 13:00 but the poor Corolla was still a block of ice, despite the ambient temperature being up to 1°C and it having been in direct sunlight for at least an hour. Despite that, it started first turn of the key! And then… sputtered and died
I figured this was just due to the cold and cranked it again, and it took a few seconds but then it fired up and ran OK after that. So I left it warming up while I went round scraping all the windows.
Traffic was bad going across town to Big Sainsbury's, but it gave the car plenty of opportunity to warm up properly. Once the shopping was done it started first time again, and also after I'd filled up.
So although I still think there's a possibility the solenoid on the starter motor may be on the way out, the car seems OK for now
Lunch has been a couple of garlic and herb chicken thighs from the still-slightly-warm food counter, with a bag of plain crisps
And when I went down to the car, I scattered a load of mixed nuts in their shells (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts) over where the squirrels seemed to be concentrating their attentions, and a load of peanuts in their shells over where the corvids had been hanging out shortly before, as apparently they like them and can easily get into the shell. Unless the crows and magpies came back sharpish, the squirrels will have had those too I expect. But with luck everybody got something suitable
I waited until around 13:00 but the poor Corolla was still a block of ice, despite the ambient temperature being up to 1°C and it having been in direct sunlight for at least an hour. Despite that, it started first turn of the key! And then… sputtered and died
I figured this was just due to the cold and cranked it again, and it took a few seconds but then it fired up and ran OK after that. So I left it warming up while I went round scraping all the windows.
Traffic was bad going across town to Big Sainsbury's, but it gave the car plenty of opportunity to warm up properly. Once the shopping was done it started first time again, and also after I'd filled up.
So although I still think there's a possibility the solenoid on the starter motor may be on the way out, the car seems OK for now
Lunch has been a couple of garlic and herb chicken thighs from the still-slightly-warm food counter, with a bag of plain crisps
And when I went down to the car, I scattered a load of mixed nuts in their shells (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts) over where the squirrels seemed to be concentrating their attentions, and a load of peanuts in their shells over where the corvids had been hanging out shortly before, as apparently they like them and can easily get into the shell. Unless the crows and magpies came back sharpish, the squirrels will have had those too I expect. But with luck everybody got something suitable
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