Arteth’s parents phoned us at Christmas from Missouri, and mentioned that the previous night they’d had ten inches of snow. But that was it - despite a few deaths from traffic accidents, it wasn’t that big a deal for most people. London recently managed to gridlock after a few flakes. People were trapped in cars overnight. The rail network collapsed.
The old nationalised British Rail had snow clearing equipment and spare locomotives on standby in areas where snow could be a problem. The new, more “efficient” privatised rail service doesn’t.
Ben Hammersley sums up the current amazing weather of light snow and slightly freezing temperatures rather well:
“Minus 2! Minus 2! Minus 2c and the country shuts down? For fucks sake, people. Grit the roads, and put on another jumper. ”
