Closed schools, delayed trains, re-routed buses, dangerous roads, burst water pipes... It’s hard to find something nice to say about our recent bout of snow.

But you know what? I completely and utterly loved it.

Because despite the cold, the wet, the discomfort, the inconvenience, the expense, the lack of sleep, the many moments fear gripped my heart as I slid towards the edge of the road, and the sheer joy of having to buy FOUR new tyres before January pay day, I think the snow did us a lot of good.

By the way, I’d like to say a special hello to those of you who think I am clearly insane about now.

Hang in there, you might be surprised. By the end of my story, you may even end up agreeing with me.

Because at a time where we are all bombarded with nothing but stories of doom and gloom and tragedy, that dump of white stuff brought a little fun back into our lives!

I was lucky enough the other weekend to spend a snowy Sunday in South Park, which reminded me of going to Disneyland.

Well actually, it was slightly nicer than Disneyland, because it’s not in a neighbourhood full of strip shopping and nobody asked me if I wanted to buy any drugs.

Anyway, my point is, like Disneyland, it didn’t matter what was going on outside the fence; inside, the only order of the day was to have fun.

There were snowball fights, children building snowmen, people on skis, a family trying out a home-made bed on skis, another group laughing as they carried their inflatable swimming rings down to the slope, and – the most magical moment of all – a child of about eight arguing with his sister over who would be the first to ride the tray that sits under the grill, down the hill.

And I don’t know if you noticed, but the snow also turned most of us into nicer people!

B.T.S. (before the snow) I would never have let a stranger climb into my car on a deserted road at 5am. Yet the other morning, when a knight in shining armour offered to drive me out of the mess I was in, I jumped at the chance.

B.T.S. I would never have thought the sound of spinning wheels could make men of all shapes and sizes pop up like meerkats and rush out on to the street to give a car a push.

Yet time after time I know this happened across our county.

Doors were opened, lifts were given, spare beds were slept in, police were allowed to sledge down hills, and I was even handing out other radio stations’ phone numbers to desperate headteachers who needed to tell parents their schools were closed.

I’m not naïve; I know the snow cost a lot of businesses dearly. I have several friends who will struggle to pay bills, because they couldn’t get to work.

But I don’t want to concentrate on that, I would rather remember that for a few days at the beginning of 2010, our little patch of the world became a lot nicer.

And on behalf of everyone who didn’t get a chance to say it to the strangers who lent them a hand the other week.

Thank you.