As an old geography teacher of mine used to say ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing’, perhaps also more concisely said by Baden Powell: ‘Be prepared’. Nothing could be truer than in dear old Blighty.

Two words: Storm Doris. I cannot speak for areas of the country where I was not, but in Sheffield Doris seemed to manifest her fearsome self as…. Wind and rain. Granted, it was the kind of wind that rendered an umbrella totally useless and the rain was at times sideways but my point is, what precisely have we come to expect in the UK in February? (Indeed, wind and rain is hardly that surprising in August if we’re totally honest).

A Tweet I saw on the Day of the Apocalypse (oh, sorry, I mean Thursday… better known as #DorisDay…) sums up, to some extent, how it’s all about your mind-set:

Of course, I’m not meaning to make light of the genuine emergencies and plight of those severely affected by extreme weather in the UK, but some of us do need a reality check. I left the house to make my usual commute to the office and arrived at the same time as I always do – albeit with a wet face and guaranteed bad hair day ahead. Same story on the way home (except I cared less about the hair).

During the day, the some elements of the media would’ve had you believe you were destined never to return home. Now, I’m not accusing anyone of ‘fake news’ (yawn) here, but what I am pondering is: are media outlets being responsible by reporting on weather in a certain way, providing necessary information to the public? Or are they in fact being irresponsible by whipping people into a frenzy?

Personally, I think both can be true depending on the circumstances. What I do know for sure though is that a sturdy waterproof coat (with a hood, please) and a good pair of wellies will see us through the worst.