When winter really was hard

Sir, – It is claimed that this may be the worst winter in eight years.

It certainly is a repeat of what I term an old-

fashioned winter and at my age of 71 I can recall many that lived up to expectation.

Now, in this current bad spell, Humza Yousaf, Minister for Transport, apologises as motorists are caught out by snow, but we all see the weather forecasts.

I look back on the 19 years I cycled the A9 from Bankfoot to Luncarty to my place of work, a distance of almost five miles.

On a bicycle I was exposed to everything nature flung at me, leaving home at 5.20am for a 6am start.

I endured icy roads, cycling over slush, spray from passing traffic, numb hands, and now and then the bike and I parted company as we became victims of the ice.

When I reached my workplace and pulled my balaclava off, ice came with it.

I endured this for almost 20 years, and others throughout the country faced the same thing.

You had to do it. No work, no pay.

Yes indeed, winter has its miseries, although the most recent ones have been lenient.

But, it seems, unlike other countries with cold winters, we can’t cope in the same way any more. Thomas Brown. 3 Church Place, Bankfoot.