They took account of most things, our Victorian forefathers — including the fact that in Britain it sometimes snows. So, when Osney Bridge was constructed in 1889, replacing an earlier structure that had collapsed into the river, it came complete with two ‘cupboards’ recessed into the pillars in which could be stored supplies of salt and sand.

Are supplies still there? I ask because last Saturday, when salt and sand would have come in very handy at that spot, the cupboards remained locked, with no indication that anybody in authority was even aware of their existence.

Vehicles travelling in both directions along this crucial city artery were, as a consequence, often unable to manage the slippery slope to the apex of the bridge. Happily, there was a group of locals, me among them, ready to give a shove as required.

As a general rule, for reasons my more technically minded readers might understand, it was the front-wheel drive cars that had most trouble. One exception, though, was a Chevrolet sports job that proved a real brute, its back wheels spinning uselessly as we pushed.

Half an hour or so of this Good Samaritan work proved more than enough post-lunch exercise. But others carried on. Mention of this was still being made on Tuesday in the Oxford Mail, where it was reported that Oxford’s roads were significantly the worst in the county.

For this, of course, we can blame Oxfordshire County Council. The utter uselessness of its highways department can be judged, I would suggest, from the fact that a damaged sign column, felled to the ground by a passing vehicle, still disfigures one of Europe’s most famous streets, the High, some three or four months after I first drew attention to it.

So many of the city’s traffic problems arise from the reliance locals are forced to place on the A34. To have a stretch of one of the busiest trunk roads in Britain doubling as Oxford’s ring road is an absurdity.

Even without the snow, crashes on the road — usually caused by speeding lorries — result in enormous delays to the travelling public. Any regular listener to Radio 2 will know how often problems there figure in its roads reports.

Last Thursday, as I set off to see Cilla Black’s turn as the Fairy Godmother in Aylesbury, traffic heading north was held up by a crash. Congestion stretched along Botley Road.

Jackknifed lorries were to blame for much of the trouble on Saturday, when some travellers were trapped for more than six hours. I met a number of them who had booked bed and breakfast at our local pub, the Hollybush, after despairing of reaching their destination.

One caller to BBC Radio Oxford said that lorries can be fitted with a device to stop jackknifing. It was ridiculous, he added, that this equipment was not compulsory. I agree.

As ever in these weather-driven emergencies, Radio Oxford supplied excellent coverage, alerting us to what was and wasn’t on the move.

Most mornings this week, I have given up my matutinal doses of John Humphrys and Chris Evans in favour of Nick Pearcey. The fine job he has been doing has been marred only by the number of times he has told us that he is “sitting in for Matthew Boyden” — roughly every two minutes, it seemed, on Tuesday morning.

I wish broadcasters would understand that this sort of information is of very little interest to listeners.

On which slightly acidulous note I will sign off, wishing all readers a very happy Christmas.