Snow Far Snow Good

By ALICE O’BRIEN Alice O’Brien Counselling, Newmarket

As it is still January, it is still considered the New Year. And what a January it has been so far. It is fair to say that for a lot of us we have never experienced the snow of 2025. Snow that covered our cars, blocked all our roads, knocked down our guttering and closed our schools. The snow of 2025 grounded us all it is fair to say.

But, it was fun too, no school, snowmen the likes of which we have never seen before, young enterprising lads in Newmarket building their future lad-pad in the form of an igloo and children sliding for yards on all sorts of household items- bin lids, plastic bags, even the odd, illegally obtained election posters still around since November.

A real positivity during this week of dramatic weather was seeing the way a community came together. Rural meeting urban with farmers coming in to rescue the town folks by ploughing our streets, Cork Council workers gritting all night, Postmen calling to the elderly and isolated, local farmers clearing car parks for people to access a Doctors surgery. There are countless examples of these ways that a crisis brought us together.

It would be impossible to thank everyone, so a collective community thanks will have to be enough. There are many benefit to doing this. It builds morale as it can boost the over-all sense of purpose in the community by spreading gratitude. Thanking people also builds a positive community culture creating a ripple effect of kindness. It validates the time and effort put in to helping out. Showing gratitude can also encourage future involvement, valuing someone’s contribution can encourage continued efforts.

The message is clear- in times of crisis we come together in strength and we need to remember that. Personally, the next time I’m stuck behind a farmer, in a tractor doing their work- I will remember the tractor that cleared my road on January 2025 and I will be glad of them.