After snow comes ice

It snowed in London last night.  This was predicted by the weather forecast and, in a sense, people were prepared for it even before the predictions were made.  I don't mean that Londoners have suddenly developed psychic ability to predict the arrival of the white stuff, but rather that the regularity of the event has helped people prepare themselves somewhat for its arrival and there is less chaos this year in comparison to the fairly recent past.  It is just light snow; these things are relative and it may be considered heavy for people who are not used to it but it is nothing like the extreme conditions the more polar countries experience each year.  The latter are more used to snow and are more able to cope with it because they have developed systems to help them get through the worst of winter.  

In the U.K. we are still trying to adjust to the change in the winter weather conditions.  Snow is still relatively novel in London, and there is some discussion as to how much we should invest in infrastructure to deal with the problems associated with snow given that it is fairly rare, but I am happy to report that the preparations this year have been an improvement on last year's debacle.  A lot of this is down to a change in the general public's attitudes towards travelling in adverse weather conditions; the authorities also have better contingency plans this year.  Technology has also helped a lot.  For example, we were out visiting yesterday afternoon and were invited to stay for tea.  The use of information obtained via our smart phones meant that we could keep track of the weather and traffic conditions discreetly and make decisions as to when we should be leaving to avoid the worst of both.  We enjoyed our extended visit and were not particularly bogged down by the logistics of travel.  Obviously having the necessary driving skills to navigate through adverse weather conditions is required as well and it would not have been advisable to drive if one were not confident to do so in the snow.  However, that was not an issue and knowing how best to have a comfortable journey home helped under the circumstances.  From what I have read  on the news websites this morning, while there were travel disruptions due to the snow, the country seems to have coped quite well- we're geting there.

Conditions are predicted to be icy over the next few days; take care of yourselves if you are heading out.