Dreaming of a white Christmas?

Prospect Park, Reading (24.12.09) © Aries the Dreamer

THE parting words of a tweed-clad pensioner before he trudged away from an out-of-town supermarket's petrol station yesterday (Christmas Eve) failed to ring with festive cheer.

Slipping his wallet into his jacket pocket and zipping up his dull green anorak, he turned back to the cashier and said: "I wish this bloody snow would go away. I've had enough of it."

But the bespectacled moaner, far from being a 21st Century Scrooge, seemed to sum up the thoughts of an entire town collectively recovering from a battering from the elements.

Arctic conditions gripped Reading on Monday soon after 1.30pm, with more than four inches of snow blanketing the town within 12 hours, causing mass panic transport chaos.

As I frantically broke the news on the Reading Chronicle website the entire bus network ground to a halt at 3.55pm, lorries jackknifed on slippery motorway interchanges and Royal Berkshire Hospital nurses and doctors were stranded at work. Abandoned cars littered dual carriageways and hillsides as motorists fled, ambulances struggled to reach pregnant women trapped in their homes and the sheer weight of snow snapped electricity cables causing black-outs in outlying villages.

With all major roads gridlocked, motorists trapped for up to 14 hours in their vehicles, finally threw in the towel and bedded down in churches, service stations and even supermarkets.

My housemate's text sent through to our BT landline summed it up: "It's - like - the - Day Aft-er - To-morr-ow - out - here," the robotic voice proclaimed appocolyptically. "I'm - ditch-ing - the car - and walk-ing - home."

Recycling bottles, West Reading (18.12.09) © Aries the Dreamer

So after years of Dreaming of a White Christmas, it was finally here. Yet the heaviest snowfall in the area for 26 years seemed to resemble hell on earth rather than a seasonal blessing.

So why the misery? Politicians instantly slammed Reading Borough Council for failing to forsee the disaster, with Reading East Conservative MP Rob Wilson accusing the authority of being "woefully underprepared".

Council chiefs argued they had previously gritted the roads but blamed large businesses for letting staff leave work early - clogging up the roads already bursting with Christmas shoppers - before gritting crews could get to work again.

Arguments aside, there are so many reasons why the Victorian postcard image of snow-swept festive season doesn't wash well in the 21st Century as our lives have changed so much in the past 120 years.

Christmas is, of course, a religious festival but it's traditionally a time of family and friends re-uniting to spend quality time together. In 1889 this would mean a short walk across blizzard swept fields in a pair of galoshes. But in today's mobile society, people are more spread out, meaning an over reliance on the motor car, the railways, and even air travel - transport networks which struggle to cope with adverse weather because they have been developed in a relatively snow-free climate.

Meanwhile, the dominance of car travel means major shops and supermarkets are further away from our homes making them treacherous to reach in poor weather. While I abhor the commercialisation of the festive season - Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without food and presents.

So as I raced down the M4, A34 and A303 I was glad to see the white stuff melting and thinning out until all I saw were miserable rain swept fields - at least I was on the move.

Sure Scandinavia, Canada, USA and Eastern Europe do a better job preparing themselves for heavy snowfall - but they are used to it. Britain could spend money bolstering their infrastructure but it would be millions down the drain if the snow storms failed to return for another two decades.

The recession is hardly the right time to stock-pile tonnes of salt in newly built warehouses when there are more pressing needs. Consider the weather an act of nature - one that is thankfully over.