We were warned for the best part of a week, it was from Russia and it was going to hit Saturday night. Road gritters started gritting the roads mid week and Heathrow cancelled one third of their flights in advance. It was the arrival of ‘the big freeze’.

In the last couple of years the UK has developed a habit of grinding to a halt when the first decent snowfall of winter arrives. Airports close, roads are impassable and trains never leave the station. The country essentially stalls until the snow melts.

This year was a repeat of the past with snow falling all night Saturday. As a result, Sunday was all about warnings to ‘not leave home’ and to ‘reduce your speed’ if, indeed, you had to go out at all. Having said that, by Monday everything was largely back to normal with an inch or so of snow hanging around on the ground. For those up early in the morning, ice was the main hazard.

From a kiwi viewpoint the “big freeze” was actually quite fun. The neighbourhood was pure white when we woke up on Sunday and we’ve had two days of winter wonderland since. It was also a great two days to take some photographs.