Through Rain or Snow or Sleet or Hail

Back in Australia, you might have heard the news that London has had more snow since ... well, since a while.

Yeah, I like it too. Adds a bit of excitement, it does. There is only one problem. More on that in a moment.

Compared to Melbourne, the public transport system in London is more than fabulous, it is unbelievable. I don't own a car. Don't feel the need to. I can get around fine without one.

But outside of any comparison with a chronically under-developed public transport system like the one that serves Melbourne - and I use the term serves rather loosely - the public transport system in London leave something to be desired.

The biggest problem is overcrowding. I have no problem having to stand for the entire one-hour length of my journey into the city but, gee, on some days it would be nice to have some room to stand.

Another problem is that it is hot. Not a problem during the winter, of course. But come summer, it will easily get to over 40C on an overcrowded underground train. This, in turn, is due to the chronic lack of air conditioning in the UK. This is conspicuously obvious heading down Oxford St on a very warm summers day. All the stores are stiflingly hot. Portable air-con units and fans are dragged in but they do not help.

The third problem is that the smallest things can throw of the entire system. On several occasions, the explanation for delayed underground services are leaves on the track. Leaves - what is that? I recently did some work in the mid-lands. On one Thursday in January, overland train services were halted due to wind. Even a windy city like Melbourne with its under-developed public transport system doesn't suffer from that one.

Which brings me to my point: when the heaviest snow since ... well, since a while ... were forecast, my thought was 'Oh no ... here we go ... it will be a nightmare getting into work tomorrow ...' (Oh ... I used the word 'nightmare' ... picking up local vocab!). If wind brings the public transport system down and LEAVES bring the public transport system down ... it did not auger well.

Thankfully, millions of other Brits must have thought the same thing. Unlike millions of other Brits, as it turned out, I still tried to make it into work. The trains were markedly less full than I am accustomed to at peak hour. At least I had room to stand.

So what was a potential disaster had turned out to be anything but. Bring on the snow.