I was lucky enough to be on holiday recently when the wintery weather brought a heavy covering of snow to the South East (where I live). I'm told that the whole country came to a standstill, with road networks affected, trains cancelled and shoppers panic buying as much fresh food as they could.

The thing that really made me think was the closure of Gatwick Airport for nearly 2 days. As it happened, I was due to fly back into Gatwick so I had a vested interest. Even so, it seems strange that in this very sophisticated world that we live, a bit of snow can have such a dramatic impact. I was lucky enough to have a "good delay" - some of you may not be aware of the concept?

We knew about the delay in advance (the iphone is a wonderful thing) and were able to change our plans. The delay meant that we had another day in resort to enjoy ourselves and our flight was pushed back to late at night. The best part about it was that my young daughter was so tired when the flight left that she forgot to kick the seat in front, fidget incessantly and make embarrassing comment about the slightly large lady in front. Instead, she fell asleep. That's a good delay.

Anyway - I digress. Should Gatwick be allowed to close (the easy option of "in the interests of safety" is always trotted out) or should they have facilities to keep the airport open? People spend a vast amount of time and effort in the planning of holidays, not to mention the money they spend. The closure of the airport their flight is due to use will obviously have a significant impact on the holiday and their enjoyment.

I understand that snow can't be stopped, but surely it is foreseeable and measures can be taken to keep such major operations such as international airports open? I have since read that Gatwick had much more snow than Heathrow and despite a number of snow ploughs being employed, they couldn't keep the runways open. Perhaps they should have invested in a few more snow ploughs, rather than spending millions on the renovations. I wonder if the net costs of cancelling more than 1,400 would justify the costs of a few more snow ploughs?

In Canada and the USA they rountinely have significant amounts of snowfall, much more than Gatwick experienced and rarely have the level of disruption the passengers of Gatwick expereinced. I accept they they are almost guaranteed a harsh winter, but it seems like we are too.

So, who will pay for the disruption to the service? Perhaps the insurers of those delayed, but more likely no-one. The owners of Gatwick are unlikely to be accountable. I think they should be. But, on this occasion I'm grateful to them because they ensured me a peaceful flight home!!