Country needs to get used to bad winter weather

With the weathermen telling us this could be a pattern for days to come and potentially for the whole winter, one could be forgiven for feeling that we have been spoilt with mild weather for decades.

The older generation remembers conditions such as these and harsher, particularly the famous winters of 1947 and 1963.

Yet back then rail services still ran and everybody got to work.

Nowadays it seems that if Jack Frost so much as sneezes trains are cancelled and the schools close down.

With roadside gritters habitually caught on the hop and today’s increased reliance on the motor car leading to road users running into problems, it’s time we worked harder to cope with adverse conditions.

Commuter Ian Stubbs’s story underscores the misery which can occur if essential transport services let us down in bad weather.

With the rail fares due to go up in January, Southern and Southeastern need to work as hard as they can to keep their services running through the snow.

And East Sussex County Council needs to improve its operations involving the gritting lorry.

The bottom line is we as a nation need to get used to operating in bad winter weather.

After all many other countries manage - and under far harsher conditions than our maritime climate could ever throw at us.

• On the up side, the odds on a white Christmas are getting shorter and shorter.

That’s the time when most of us will be able to enjoy the snow’s inherent beauties without worrying too much about disruption.

And of course this would be a fantastic experience for the children.