There has been a lot of chatter over the last week about how well or not our public authorities did during the severe weather. It should be remembered that the snow we did experience, while in no way unprecedented, was probably the worst we have had for the best part of 20 years.

Responses to it were mixed. Roads were treacherous but, in the circumstances, we pay tribute to the work that was done to keep at least the major roads largely clear.

When so much snow falls in such a short space of space of time, there is going to be disruption, however much the roads are gritted. Clearly, there was a lack of salt caused by a prolonged cold snap and the inability of this country to produce rock salt at anything like the rate needed to replenish stocks quickly.

In truth, none of us, individuals or authorities, are quite used to so much snow and none of us are really prepared. While the authorities are short on salt and snow ploughs, how many of us had snow chains for our tyres or reacted quickly enough to clear snow from our own property before it froze?

The validity of school closures has been a big talking point too. We believe some of them were too quick to close in the early part of last week when snowfalls were light.

At the end of last week, it was a different story for many. On Friday, there were real difficulties for people getting in, particularly outside urban areas. How many schools closed, however, because of perceived fears about health and safety legislation and possible litigation, rather than a real inability to put on classes?

Elsewhere, some services continued and others did not. Public transport was badly affected but there is little a bus service can do if the roads are not clear. Postal services were patchy in some areas and here we are less convinced by the excuses. Many did not receive post for several days although residents and commercial premises in these areas were able to go about their business as normal.

As always, there were tales of people going out of their way to be helpful. Christopher Lewis, a farmer of Hinton Waldrist, attached a plough to the front of his tractor and proceeded to clear the roads in the village. When he rang the county council to ask if they would like any more roads cleared, he was told to stop because of, yes, you guessed it, health and safety.

Fair play to the leader of the county council, Keith Mitchell, who said Mr Lewis and those driving the gritting lorries lived in the real world not the one of health and safety regulations.

It is a good point. In a world where we take more personal responsibility and less heed of health and safety regulations, we might cope a little better with events like those we experienced over the last week.

One of our correspondents suggests it should be our personal, if not legal, responsibility to clear the path in front of our homes. Why not? Should we really be afraid to clear the path because if we do and someone falls over we might be held accountable?

Similarly, should we expect Oxfordshire County Council to have the resources to clear every road in the county when it snows or should we be responsible enough to carry snow chains in the rare event that we find it difficult to get about?

Everyone harks back to a time when we remember life going on as normal when it snowed.

Is there anything really different between then and now — apart from us and our obsession with health and safety?