i lived next to a canal and used to do the same!!!
in sweden i was working in minus 20 most days and it didnt bother me, but here if it below 0 i hate it......... the swedes are great at driving in the snow, the whole country is prepared weeks in advance...........the main road in and out of stockholm is as busy after a meter of snow as it is in july!!!! you have to have snow tyres and pass a driving test on driving on ice...........also they recycle all the grit each year, which i dont think we do here????