Perhaps we were a little harsh in early judgments about how people in London and the south of England reacted to snow as if it had never been seen in Britain before. They have now had rather a lot and the "big freeze" has lasted longer than expected.
But to veterans of the winter of 1963 in the north of Britain – the real north, that is, not the BBC news version which still starts at about Northampton – not to mention 1978, 1979 and 1981, there has been a touch of hysteria about coping with the snow in the south.
And not forgetting the blizzards, blocked roads and power cuts of late February and early March of 2001 which coincided, as many farmers and those in the areas affected will recall only too well, with the start of the foot-and-mouth epidemic.
Snow and mud made the grim job of slaughter and carcass-burning even more difficult, while backdrops of pure white made the pyres and flames seem even more hellish in the photographs and film that dominated every newspaper and TV news programme.
Eight years ago now, hard to believe as that is, but thankfully no foot-and-mouth this time as the Borders and north Northumberland deal with snow and frost with considerably less fuss than the south of England.
The snow is much the same and the problems much the same, so I guess the difference is in our more phlegmatic approach that winter, in spite of global warming, can bring snow and if that happens we’ll deal with it, not panic.
Yes, it can be miserable, uncomfortable, inconvenient and cold, but if we coped with the big bad winters of 1947 and 1963 before most of us had fitted carpets, double glazing, central heating, better clothes, more powerful cars and tractors and snowploughs, surely we can manage now?
And still manage a smile, as did the man who told a radio show: "I’ve just shovelled a foot of global warming off my path."
Yes, I know – because I’ve listened to several ’experts’ discussing the question in the past fortnight – that this long, cold, snowy spell in February 2009 does not mean global warming is not happening. But the comment was still funny while I was trying to defrost a windscreen.
Snow at Perth in February is no novelty, usually during bull sales week, and I guess it was appropriate that snow fell at the last sale to be held there..
Perth bull sales go back a long way, including the heyday of Aberdeen Angus and Beef Shorthorn cattle in the 1950s and early 1960s, when South American buyers paid tens of thousands of guineas – one guinea being £1.05 – for what they thought were the best animals.
But that was in the old mart near Perth town centre. The new mart was built on the outskirts of Perth, just off the main road.
If memory serves it cost about £7million at the time and caused a lot of arguments among shareholders, but was seen as the way ahead, as was already being shown by Aberdeen and Northern Marts with their new Thainstone centre at Inverurie to replace several outdated district marts, and by Borderway Marts at Carlisle.
There have been other out of town mart developments since as water and manure disposal, hygiene rules and traffic problems made town centres untenable.
A lot of live auction marts have also vanished, including the Gorgie site in Edinburgh which once housed three of Scotland’s best-known auctioneering businesses.
And for various reasons – which shareholders and farmers still argue about – the new Perth mart was not as successful as some others. So 20 years after the old mart in town held its last bull sale, the ’new’ one has done the same.
It was a good one for Aberdeen Angus breeders as the breed’s resurgence of the past few years continued; 129 bulls averaging £4,921, with a top price of 24,000 guineas. It makes me laugh that they’re still sold in guineas, but I’m neither buying nor selling.
What is encouraging is that so many of the bulls are now bought on their records rather than simply on good looks, and the top price was for a bull with an outstanding performance index, paid jointly by John Elliot, who runs his Rawburn herd at Roxburgh Mains, and Alistair Fraser, Idvies.
Tom Arnott, Haymount, Kelso, paid 22,000 guineas, Ewan Brewis, Eastfield, Kelso, sold at 20,000 guineas, a bull from the Wedderlie herd at Gordon made 12,000 guineas, and Rawburn and Wedderlie breeding was involved in several other top prices.
So Borders breeders made the same impact on the last Perth sale of Aberdeen Angus as they have on many others over the years.
Not that there is any breed rivalry, but 77 Limousin bulls averaged £4,217 and the last Beef Shorthorns – once the dominant beef breed – sold at Perth averaged £4,099 for 23.
