Don't clear snow with your wipers...

...*bzzzzzzt*

£££ 

I've cleared much more snow in the past with them than I did today.  This seemed a light dusting but it was that wet, soggy, heavy stuff...   

If I'd used the CC to clear it I wouldn't be using it now to pay a hefty bill! 

Snow!? Use a brush. Voompf done In 2 seconds.

Frost? De-icer or cover with a blanket the night before.

It's just not been your week really, happens to us all at some point.

I doubt you have done any major damage doing that, either blown the fuse or made the wiper arms lift off the splined shaft or at worst bent an arm on the mech.

poundland = mit with built in icescraper

I use a rubbery scraper. It's about 40cm long, the soft rubber bit is about 10cm deep. It's lasted years and the material makes it good for cleaning the inside of the window of condensation, yet it's bulky enough that it'll shovel the snow off the outside in seconds.

Only falls down a bit when it's hard ice on the window, but then I doubt a brush would help, and I wouldn't want to be attacking it with something hard either. When it's like that I just let the car run a couple of minutes and chuck some deicer on it.