The idea of snow is great, the reality, not so much
With snow a no-show for a lot of people this Christmas, the disappointment for some was blatant. People were longing for the icy fluff to block their driveways and bolster their curtailed Christmas. With many growing frostier towards our own government, there was the hope that snow might stave off the homebound boredom we are enduring in Tier Four and get the kids out the door.
But do we really miss the snow, or is it simply the memories it brings?
There has not been much to look forward to this year. Turning to nostalgia is a powerful weapon to combat Covid: Snowmen appearing in front gardens like lopsided ice-creams. Smiles made of sticks and hollow finger poked eyes. The scream that accompanied snowball fights. Crushing snow into sludge with your fingers and feeling the frostbite. Waking up to see the whole world transformed overnight and looking like white glitter, is the image imprinted into our minds and memories.
Walking along the black sludge pavements like a tightrope walker, desperate not to slip and slide along the road.
Good times, but for those feeling sad by the lack of a cold snap with snow, let us not forget the perils of the cold weather too. Snow was always fun if you were stuck at home, otherwise you would be stuck out there in the wilderness trying to navigate through a stone-cold sleet of panic and delay. In 2018 to 2019 there were an estimated 23,200 winter deaths in England and Wales. Having a white Christmas is convenient but ultimately can be more trouble than it is worth.
The unemployment rate is up at 4.9 per cent with 1.69m people unemployed. Redundancies are at record levels. People are not getting the help they need and are struggling to find work in the Covid panic with further struggles ahead for many due to Brexit. The cost of keeping warm weighs heavily on many minds.
The road to the future is a deep puddle of distortion and blunder that we all have to navigate, no matter where we sit on the ladder.
Let’s leave the winter white till next year.