[garinda]

It's winter, it gets cold, we sometimes have frost. or.........gasp.......even snow. Big bloody deal.

Ten years ago this very night I went to a family party at my godfathers, as I'm doing tonight. It was a bitterly frosty night. I was expected to be back at work the very next day, ableit a little late, but they loved me, so they always forgave me.

My Mum skidded me to Accrington station the next morning at 5am, on ungritted roads. I'd bought my ticket, and was supposed to catch the 05.45 train, changing at Preston, arriving at Euston at a little after ten.

7am a train eventually arrived at Accy, by which time my wet hair from my shower had frozen, and my luggage had stuck to the floor. We were told at Preston that there were no trains going south as it was too cold, and our best bet was to go to Manchester, and try and get a train to London there.

I won't bore you with the details, and British Railway's inability to cope winter, I'll just say that by 2pm, when I was stranded at a little country station without a shelter somewhere in Cheshire, I was so cold and fed up I nearly cried.

I missed the whole day at work and eventually got back into my flat in London at 10pm at night. I swore never again, but of course the next year I had to go through the whole charade again.

Other countries in the world have unsuprisingly cold winters and cope very well, God only knows why we can't get our act together, and at least pretend we are prepared.