Let it snow!

ENGLAND is in the middle of its longest cold snap for almost 30 years and Christ Church is just one of hundreds of different university’s that have been heavily hit by the latest downpour of snow as students face a torrid journey back to the city. And to add insult to injury, when the snow was at its worse, the Kent County Council (KCC), admitted it may run out of salt if the icy weather continues to affect the county’s roads.

The snow over the last month has affected plenty of schools in the area as the icy conditions proved too much as the school’s Christmas break has been unforeseeably extended. Over 20 schools (primary and secondary) in the district had to close due to the treacherous road conditions. The snowy conditions have also caused mayhem for those travelling by public transport. Many of the bus routes in the area have been forced to abandon their posts and lengthy delays have been causing havoc on the train lines, as the roads and lines have fallen short of health and safety procedures.

The snow caused so much chaos in Kent that at one point the police were urging motorists to drive only in emergencies as Kent was preparing for even more heavy snowfall. At one point Chief Inspector Andy Reeves, head of Kent Police's roads policing unit, had to urge drivers to avoid the roads unless the trip is absolutely vital and to take supplies if they do have to travel.

The situation got worse as the KCC admitted that salt, used to help reduce ice on the roads, was in low supply as much of the county’s stock was moved by the Government to other areas of the country that are in more need of it.

This has caused many problems for both students and teachers alike on their return to the city with many lectures being called off and, much to the students delight, deadlines being extended. With many of the train lines in Kent still out of use, the university are notifying students that if they can’t make it in because of the snow, don’t risk it.

Jamie Power, a Christ Church first year, spent his Christmas in Dubai. On his return to the UK he faced a lengthy delay and said: “I was queuing in the departure lounge for over four hours, which was one of the shorter delays. One of my friends was waiting for two days for a flight back to Manchester."

It isn’t only students coming from abroad that struggled to get back to Canterbury. Jo Bartson-Umuliisa, a Christ Church second year, was on the wrong end of what can only be described as a disastrous commute. Jo spent her Christmas at home with her family in Richmond and when returning to Canterbury for her new term at university, a journey that would normally take around an hour and a half, took almost 8 hours. Miss Bartson-Umuliisa was, understandably, disgusted with the way she was treated on her journey and believes that those in charge of the trains didn’t have a clue what was going on. She said: “I got to Charing Cross like normal, but with all the delays and cancelations it didn’t say when my train was.

"I waited for an hour before going to information, who told me to go to London Victoria station. When I got there, again, there was no trains running.

"I finally got a train to Dover and then had to wait another hour and a half before getting a train to Faversham where I finally got a cab to Canterbury.”

Hopefully, Canterbury has now seen the worst of the snow and students can look forward to more time in classes instead of in bed. But if we are to see more snow in the coming weeks, let’s all hope that those powers that be are more in control than they have been of late.