I believe you have snow...

..in England...the news report didn't mention the rest of the UK, but I presume they got snow too, otherwise I suspect the report may have been of a phenomenon of a different kind! I've seen the footage and it looks like plenty of people have been having fun - it's that sticky stuff you can make snowmen out of...we get that in December and April/ May...it's good stuff..not like the 4 ft of compacted ice and dry snow we have here now.

I believe it's been chaos...no gritters and no ploughs...no buses and 'arctic temperatures'...it was -17 here yesterday and it felt tropical compared to the late -20s we've been getting.

Basically the Canadian Press have been taking the p*ss...but there's a big difference between Canada and the UK...in Canada we are prepared because we have storms all winter, we have ploughs and salted roads, we have winter tyres and a radio system that alerts us to hour by hour weather and school/ work closures. Frostbite is a probability not a possibility if we fail to dress adequately so we have appropriate winter clothing - big coats, snow pants, snow boots, scarves, hats, gloves to -40 degree temperatures (so we get to play out for hours...)We don't have traffic reports because...well we have no traffic! Everyone has to have a minimum of half a tank of fuel (the fuel line can freeze otherwise), and makes sure that they carry a snow shovel, a sleeping bag and a cell phone. (We also take the battery jump leads.)

We also have the advantage of after a storm we generally get clear blue skies til the next storm...although we do lose electrical power too - no electric means no water and no cooker, but since we have a wood stove we have heat and a means to cook - we also fill the bath pre-storm, put new batteries in the radio and get the candles out - just in case.

So I'm not being snotty - I'm being sympathetic...so just keep warm and keep safe!

Just so you know, we are getting a minimum of 25cm too tomorrow - the schools will probably close at lunch because it's forecasting to be blowing snow, which means white-outs for drivers.

PS...I'll take a photo of our snow hill in the next couple of days...it's mildly amusing!