Getting back to normal after blast from ‘the beast’

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the East Kilbride News.

Have you thawed out yet? Last week will be remembered although not that fondly. Normal life ground to halt as schools were closed and people were told to stay off the roads in the middle of a red weather warning.

Several inches of snow fell as a result of the ‘Beast from the East’ sweeping in and while other parts of the country may have fared worse, there is no doubt that East Kilbride and Avondale was in the grip of a winter whiteout.

Thankfully, we appear to be through the worst of it although I can’t be the only one desperate for a bit of spring weather now that the nights are getting longer.

The authorities will, I’m sure, be holding a similar view for it was 24-7 last week in their bid to keep Scotland functioning in some way.

Last week’s weather was the exception rather than the rule and while hugely disruptive, it did bring out the best in people – see our story on page 3 about the farmer who used his tractor to give a lift to a dedicated nurse who had to see a patient, for example.

Our coverage of the impact the weather had in East Kilbride and Avondale can be found on pages 4 and 5.

And check out what those online had to say about last week in our ‘Your views on the News’ column on page 30.

There, perhaps, will be time in the coming weeks to review how we respond and deal with extreme weather events.

It is clearly not desirable to have long periods of time where just getting out to work is a bridge too far.

But for now it is about acknowledging the hard work of those who battled the blizzards on our behalf.

The people of East Kilbride and Avondale thank you for your efforts.