The Big Freeze.

The big freeze of 2010 began in the earliest days of January. From the start it wasn’t English snow, it was the powdery crunchy stuff you get skiing in the Alps. Daytime temperatures were barely above zero and lower at night. Young kids and parents went sledging and teenagers took to their beds and TVs as schools closed. Everyone assumed it wouldn’t last long; we’d soon be knee deep in slush. But it did. By the 4th day gas demand was it’s highest in twenty years and stocks were running low. Stocks of road grit and salt also began to run out. When they did new snow began to close even the main roads, more people stayed at home and gas demand rose higher. On the 5th day high energy use industries were ordered to halve their usage and by day 7 householders were ordered to limit their gas heating to 2 hours a day and wear extra clothing. By the end of the first week most people had settled into a routine of sleeping and playing on the internet. New snow at the beginning of the second week caused havoc with food distribution. Supermarkets shelves began to empty from panic buying, particularly for electric heaters. Hospital workers began to sleep in staff rooms and unused wards, as did the essential employees of other industries. People began checking on their neighbours, sharing food and drink, and inviting them round during their 2 hours of heat. They brewed beer, made wine and cooked jam in the long daylight hours, and played games, talked, read books, drank and smoked by the fire in the evenings. And when the thaw finally came everyone was much more cheerful than before and because they were THE GOVERNMENT RELAXED THE SMOKING BAN! Yeseeeee! Every cloud…….