By community correspondent Michael Parker Anyone remember the February of 2009? Snow so deep it reached your knees, cars unable to drive along roads not because of ice but because of a solid barrier of compacted white stuff? And remember how, despite all this, Sutton stopped for all but two days, and then it was business as normal?

The recent snowfall pales in comparison to the ‘legendary snowfall of 2009’. A light dusting on the pavements, and a slightly slippery road. Yes, up north they were buried under it, and whole towns were isolated. But down in Sutton we had no such issue, yet we still ground to a halt. For two weeks as well, as schools and workplaces flitted between being open and staying firmly closed. And it begs the question, why? How comes a bit of snow and slush caused our area to fall apart, and yet last year we marched on through a near blizzard?

Perhaps the most annoying thing, for many students at least, was the inconsistency of when their schools were open. It was almost a lottery, as some schools shut at the first drifts of the fluffy white stuff whilst others made their students brave the storm, only to trudge home upon finding out their school had shut 5 minutes ago. As a student myself the prospect of a day of school and in the snow is something I look forward too, but the snow was so pathetic it barely merited a snowball fight, and it raises the question why we were off at all.