It’s freezing out there.

 In Aberdeenshire, they are suffering under a blanket of snow and ice. Many have been snowed in for days and the old and frail are truly suffering from the cold. On BBC iPlayer there is a fascinating programme about the - big freeze in winter of 1962/63. The weather changed just after Christmas and continued across the whole country until February 1963. It was as if we were in the artic and the snow was over 6’ deep in places with temperatures well below freezing - throughout this period. Many town and villages were cut off and farmers were desperately trying to feed their livestock. It was like a mini-ice age and caught us all by surprise. Central London was practically deserted as no one could travel in and out of the capital. I was a policeman at the time in central London and the streets were empty apart from the occasional person - skiing down Regents Street and Piccadilly and up Shaftesbury Avenue. Soho was generally empty apart from stoical drinkers heading for the French House or The Coach and Horses. From a personal point of view, I really enjoyed the time, despite the freezing temperatures.