Snow Patrol#2

29/11/10 -- As per normal the annual trip to Devon to see the family coincided with some pretty chaotic travelling conditions on the way home Sunday afternoon and evening.

Things seem to have been made worse by the "we love a good panic" media actively encouraging people to ditch the motorways in favour of attempting to get home via some nearby towns and villages and handy little B roads.

"Did you pack that thermos flask full of tea, six sleeping bags, a collapsible shovel and some hot bacon sandwiches like we told you? What, you didn't? Oh dear, you my friend are going to die. The emergency services can't get through to you as they are snowed in at a 25th wedding anniversary at the Tann Hill Inn. They might make it through to you by the weekend, although you will be stiff as a board by then having already asphyxiated yourself on your exhaust fumes and subsequently choked on frozen vomit.....unless you exit the A1M at the next exit and take the B3132 18 miles up a very steep hill to the sleepy hamlet of Sprocket. We've had Betty Swallocks from Sprocket on the phone and she says that it's clear as a bell up there."

That pretty much sums up the local radio station's helpful advice last night.