This was a bit of my back garden a couple of days ago as we struggle our way through a week dominated by `The Beast from the East` and `Storm Emma.`  Even now as I look out of the window it`s snowing again and it has got me thinking about the experiences I have had with snow over the years.

The first really bad snow I can properly remember was in 1947 - I was seven at the time - and I remember being `sent out to play` in the deep and crisp and even and encouraged to make sure I was home in time for tea.  I still recall being very cold - `shrammed` to use a good old Hampshire description - but it was a memorable introduction to the ravages of severe weather.

My maternal grandfather was `old school` - a pattern maker in the Great Western Railway Works at Swindon and I remember my mother telling me that, when my grandfather and his chums went on a coach trip somewhere, they managed to get as far as Aldbourne on the Wiltshire Downs on their way home when the snow finally defeated them.  So, what did they do?  They got off the coach and walked the eight miles from Aldbourne back to Swindon, mainly by walking along the tops of the hedges, such was the depth of the snow they encountered.   They don`t make `em like that any more.

And on Boxing Day in 1962 in started snowing and the snow and icy conditions went on and on.  We had almost forgotten what grass looked like, as it wasn`t until the very end of March that the weather relented and Spring crept into being.   Our first son was born on 31st March 1963 having had the good sense to remain tucked up in the warm whilst the worst of that winter ran its course.

Maybe this winter hasn`t been so bad after all.  And at least my garden looks as tidy as everyone else`s.