The show must go on – and on it went last week despite the snow at The Theatre, Chipping Norton. Students from the Woodstock-based Oxford School of Drama were putting on what I am sure would have been (on past form) as first-class production of Ben Jonson’s Volpone.

It had been my intention to review it. My ticket was booked for Saturday afternoon. After a frustrating week of cancelled cultural activity (ENO’s La bohème at the Coliseum on Monday, the RSC’s Othello at Warwick University on Thursday), here was one production the snow was not going to prevent.

Unfortunately, it was for me. After a trouble free-journey to Chippy, I made for the long-stay car park on the approach to the town, only to find it unusable because of the uncleared snow in it. Passing through the town (where there is only short-stay parking), I made for the next long-stay car park, 100 yards or so along the Stow road. I descended into this over packed snow, then found I was unable to drive into any of the spaces because the wheels revolved uselessly on the slope up to them.

I made to leave, but then found myself stuck in the middle of the car park, unable to go either forwards or backwards. Two good Samaritans pushed me to safety; one said I was the sixth driver he had helped that day.

At this point, I decided to leave Chipping Norton and abandon Volpone. I drove back to Oxford cursing the crassness of a council that can allow unusable car parks to remain open and do nothing to assist those who are lured into them and then left stranded.