This has been the week for uttering the immortal phrase: “When I were a lad…”, says blogger David Burrows.

If you listen to all the people who have been talking about the snow, you would be led to believe it snowed every winter in the 60s and 70s, there was never less then 3ft of the stuff and no schools or businesses ever closed and no-one stayed at home.

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth about how “a little bit of snow” could be allowed to bring the country to a standstill.

Why didn’t anyone see it coming? Why weren’t more roads cleared? Why did schools have to close?

Well, let’s stick to the facts, shall we?

First things first, it wasn’t a “little bit of snow”. Some parts of the country experienced the heaviest snowfall for 18 years. I would argue that is a “significant amount of snow”.

People did see it coming. The Met Office was bang on the money and the snow, for the most part, fell where they said it would, when they said it would.

More roads could have been cleared. That would involve more gritters, more snow ploughs and more salt and grit. Which you would have had to pay for.

I don’t know about you but I already think I pay quite enough, thank you very much, for bin collections, schools, street lighting, et al. So what would you prefer? A higher council tax bill and/or fewer services so that we are prepared for something that might not happen again until 2027?

Thought not.

And so what if the schools were closed for a few days? Yes, I know some people had childcare issues, but we are always hearing about how our children are forced to grow up too quickly, and there are always complaints about the number of tests and exams schools have to conduct.

This week, for a few glorious days, children have had the chance to be children. And, thank the Lord, adults have had the chance to act like children.

We all have a lot to worry about at the moment – job security, belts being tightened so much our ears bleed – so shouldn’t we embrace the chance to forget all that for a few hours of snowman building, snowball fighting and sledging?

The last such snowfall I remember was in 1970-somthingorother. My mum made me walk through a snowdrift which very nearly went over my head so I could get to my grandparents’ house.

Oh, hold on. I should’ve started that with: When I were a lad…