IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN!

[Karan]:  And no, I don't mean Christmas.  Of course it is Christmas soon, (however hard I try and deny it), but what I mean is: it's that time of year when [gasp] it snows!

It never ceases to amaze me how this country comes grinding to a standstill at the first glimpse of snow.  Already we have had news reporters dispatched to Hemel Hempstead so they can crouch in the snow to show us how deep it is.  Already three major airports have closed, with no news as to when they might re-open, whilst disappointing thousands of travellers.  I've still to hear the AA advise us only to travel if it's important, but I'm sure that little nugget is on it's way soon.  Politicians have been "braving it into Westminster" to ensure our stocks of salt are adequate to keep the country moving, whilst my TV is now covered in muesli at the nonsense of it all.

I'm now sitting here, having threaded my way carefully into work this morning because the roads are icy, and fully anticipating having to collect my daughter from school before lunch, because the current snow flurry is expected to drift and the school must close!  How in God's name do they cope in Alaska, Russia and Norway - let's find out and copy what they do, because I'm pretty sure their schools don't close, their trains still run and their airports remain open, always. 

We have a serious obsession with the weather in this country, but whatever the weather may throw at us, it leaves us bemused and often times, scuppered with the wrong kind of rainfall (!) or leaves on the line.  In summer the very same news reporters were crouching next to a melting road surface, whilst the rest of us were unable to refresh our scorched patches of earth due to a hosepipe ban.  It's the current snow that really amuses me.  If we lived in Barbados, snow would be a genuine surprise, but we don't and it shouldn't be.  Have you noticed that the phrase "global warming" is always substituted at this time of year for "climate change".  Climate change my arse, it's winter, it snows; we just all need to be grown ups and learn how to adapt better, rather than be caught out by what we know is coming.

I saw a television programme earlier this week about the snow, road gritting and the likelihood that the UK will run out of salt before spring arrives.  A comment was also made that to import the salt we need is very expensive "at this time of year".  Hmmm, okay, well what can we learn from this?  Well, in the UK it snows in winter.  We experience winter weather from November to February EVERY YEAR, so why not buy/import salt in June when it's cheaper, hello?! 

As for melting road surfaces, I'll leave that for the engineers to work out, but perhaps they could observe how the roads in Arizona and Melbourne survive their searing temperatures.  There is a solution to every problem, and we in the UK need to respond better to what happens to us, rather than react.  And can the media please stop whipping these issues into more than they really are or need to be; it's only snow: keep calm and carry on!  

That is all.