The Beast From The East, that's what the UK media decided to call it. As it turned out, it was a pretty close description with travel disruption everywhere, few businesses open and most people hunkered down in their houses.
There have been so many negative reports about the winter weather, but at the end of the day it is an annual natural event, just maybe not to focused and wild. I understand some cope less well with it than others, but personally I love it. I even created a mini snowman on the window sill of Pauline's apartment. One person locally was way more creative though and sculpted a full size Moomin character on the beach.
Pauline loves the snowy wintry weather too, and every day, took her daily exercise atop cross country skis. I remember back in December 2009, when the UK was blanketed top to bottom in snow, Pauline skied into work without once having to take her skis off.
The birds in the garden love it less so, and though I loved the look of it, I cleared the accumulated falls every few hours to put out food for them and defrost the bird bath so that had some open water to drink.
Though not a blanket, country covering this time, where the snow has fallen it has done so in larger accumulations than back then. With the added fun of gale force winds, which dropped the temperature to well below freezing, it created another level of challenge. A friend of mine was telling me what what going through his mind when he ventured out on foot one of the days, braving the swirling, howling winds, and whipped up flurries of snow. As he walked across local parks, ankle deep in snow, his thoughts turned to those who would not be able to experience this wonder, for whatever reason, and it made him happy that he was able to do so. For it will be brief, for already a slight thaw has begun.
It was amazing to see very few vehicles on the road. My local high street was coated in a layer of untreated, compacted snow. Even the city's Lothian Buses had cancelled their services entirely for two days, something I've never witnessed before, and most trains were off. But then the improvement in air quality with the lack of emissions is definitely a great benefit. 
Within 24 hours panic buying set in. Local small supermarket shelves started to empty. Now this was daft behaviour, as things are already starting to return to normal, but it did make me think. What if the phenomenon had continued, unabated, for just one week? One of my neighbours told me they normally shop for what they need in the short term, and would run out of food in the house by tomorrow. Because I live on the outskirts of the city, it is easy for me to put on the appropriate clothing and footwear and get access to nearby stores. But what of those in more rural areas, literally snowed in their house?
Because of the panic buying there is now less provision for everyone else. So, just in case, I walked out to a large Asda store not too far from where I live, in the hope of picking up some basics for myself and Pauline. As well as being wrapped up I also wore my ski goggles, as the wind was still whipping up the occasional fine particle blizzard.
On the soles of my boots were miniature crampons, and as I trudged through the drifts, head down against the wind, I felt like Dennis Quaid in The Day After Tomorrow, as he battled through ice and snow to reach his son, Jake Gyllenhaal, buried inside a library in snow-bound New York City, having made him a promise that he would come and rescue him.
In Asda there was pretty much something of everything, but you could see that by the end of today the remaining staples of bread and fresh vegetables would all be gone. Despite dairy cows needing to be milked twice a day, none of it had reached the chillers of Asda. Staff were removing out of day stock, destined for landfill, as, though they had received no deliveries, they had also received far fewer shoppers. Overall though, the shelves looked no different to a usual busy Saturday, albeit that the "healthy" food remained, but the pizzas were all sold out!
Eventually I was back home, and having kicked off the snow from my boots, lifted my goggles, I dropped off a few provisions to Pauline, feeling like a much waited on rescuer. As Dennis Quaid said when he finally reached Jake; "I told you I'd come".
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