The beast from the east.... the pest from the west....?

 Well we had the best from the east....  I had to dig my way out through at least an inch of snow, ok it was worse at my friends house, she had a 6 inch deep drift, it was terrible!!!!  I was in fear of my life.... (yes it's called sarcasm) 
 Ok I was lucky and I know some people had it a LOT worse, another of my friends can't let the dogs out because they can step over the 7 foot fence... yes step over it.
 Now it's the pest from the west, so I suppose this means a quarter of an inch of snow here.
 So whats next?  The slightly annoying smegger from the south?  The mildly irritating draft from the east north east?
 The trouble is the newspapers and telly go into full blown lets make it scary mode!  It's snow in the UK winter, it really shouldn't surprise anybody, and frankly it shouldn't bring the country to a stop.
 I had a mate who served in Canada, they'd have 3 foot of snow overnight, they'd get up in the morning, drive to work, all the roads were open, the shops were open, and the airbase was open, no problems, but then they expected snow and dealt with it.  here the councils think... Naahhhh we wont waste money on snow clearing gear, much more fun to waste it sending councilors and their extended family's to China for a month to study a new talking litter bin or something (a free holiday really)