Life grinds to halt for a dusting of snow

For weeks on end, a thick blanket of snow covered the country.

Drifts over 10ft. high were a common sight but life went on as normal.

On a personal note, I had to walk two miles to school and although the conditions meant that on the odd occasion I was late, like my contemporaries, never once did I fail to attend.

Why? Well there were two reasons.

The first was that local councils, not some far-flung authority, were responsible for gritting the roads, and secondly people, just as they had done during the war years, showed they were determined not to be beaten.

Fast forward to January, 2015, and after half an inch of snow falls in Pendle the place grinds to a halt.

Scores of people used it as an excuse not to go to work or school, and services such as emptying wheelie bins are disrupted.

The latter was particularly surprising as many households on the route had been serviced before someone in authority decided it was too dangerous to continue!

If a tissue paper thin layer of “snow” was the reason for the curtailment, then I shudder to think what will happen if ever there is a repeat of the conditions experienced in 1947.

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