"Do you remember the winter of 2010?!"

I get a job, ok I have to turn into a manic commuter everyday and live on the buses for an hour in the morning at 8am and back at 6 in the evening. All goes well, till the weather takes a turn.

With wintry cold easterly winds from Scandinavia blowing over the normally icy cold north sea today was a day when the "big chill" or "big freeze" as the BBC is terming it, hit the UK for the "last two decades" Lately its been -8 or perhaps somewhere closer to 0 degrees when I've been leaving for work. Today it was a warm -0.5 degrees - the day started well, it wasn't too slippery on the footpaths to the bus stop. The bus, for once was even on time - the day was getting even better.

Then you hit the main road, a road which can be treacherous at the best of times especially during the onslaught of rush hour, add in slushy conditions and never ending flakes from the greyest of Yorkshire skies and its never going to be a good sign. After taking 50 minutes to do a part of a journey which "normally" would take around 15-20, I wasn't even half way to work.

Doing the rough maths I probably wouldn't have reached work at that rate for another two hours. But at which point do you turn back? Do you risk carrying on when the road ahead was at a total stand still? With cars turning around in the middle of the road, the dual carriageway down to one lane, and a trail of slush on every inch of the road it wasn't looking good. While the bus follows the main road, this is one still in the middle of what became a bleak and cold countryside vista. A lovely picture it probably would have made on the front of a Christmas card, but not when your trying to get somewhere.

So I get off the bus after consulting a) the bus timetable for a bus back home and b) asking the mothers advice on "what do I do?". I wasn't really concerned about getting to work, I knew pretty well the bus would have got to work in the end just maybe one, verging on two hours late. It was the "what the hell do I do if the buses stop because the weather has got worse and i'm stuck in York with nowhere to go and noway of getting home?" I decide to turn around and leg it home.

I get off the bus in the vain hope of catching the next one home. An hour later after its timetabled time, the bus hadn't arrived. I felt like a total idiot standing by the side of the road by the bus stop sign, watching lorries slip and slide, endless police cars going pass with their sirens on with people looking at me as if I was some crazy person. To be honest - I probably was.

The end of the story is me having to be picked up by my dad after being pretty much stranded. I know its good to have a day off work and that snow can look pretty, but sometimes its just the most annoying thing!

So much for global "warming"!

Least this postman isn't wearing shorts like the one I saw yesterday braving the chilly winds. Hopefully your either set for the "big freeze" or free of the white stuff! [Images taken from The Guardian and the BBC]