Snow

I have seen, heard and read various things about how people think the media over-reacted to the snow which we had about ten days ago.

Well, I beg to differ. In 2003, when there was severe weather causing London and much of the South-East to come to a standstill, the media were accused of being London-centric. I lived in London at the time, and I can assure you that there were vast sheets of ice on the road, and it was impossible to drive around, and difficult to walk around (I remember picking an old man off the ice - he wasn't unsteady on his feet, it was just difficult to stay on them!). So in my eyes, it was worth reporting, as the bad weather made a major city stand still.

Looking at BBC message boards and blogs, it seems that many people are saying, "it wasn't so bad", or alternatively, "we've got six inches up here in Scotland, our kids are still at school and we're not complaining". Well, I feel justified in issuing the following responses:

- Here in the West Midlands, it was that bad. Again, sheet ice on the roads and pavements, impossible to drive up hills, and my boss had to leave her car at work and walk for 90 minutes to get home (I am glad I wasn't at work on the Friday). We cancelled our housewarming party as it wouldn't have been safe to ask people to get to our house, nor to get home in the evening after it froze over again.

- In Scotland, you are used to it - you get a couple of reasonably heavy snowfalls a year, and you can deal with it better. We hadn't had snow this bad for several years. So people find it difficult to prepare, and they are also not used to driving on snow or ice. This is why Birmingham and Sandwell councils did the right thing by cancelling school - imagine all those part-time school runners slipping and sliding about on the ice in rush hour...

As it was, we took the opportunity to explore the parkland behind our new home, and found it to be a veritable winter wonderland.