Snow Behaviour

An interesting observation of the recent snow problems is the impact it has on peoples shopping habits.
One of the problems that the car owning society has created is the building of supermarkets and retail parks, all of which are dependent on car use.
The fall of snow has pushed people to fall back on the tradition of local shops serving local communities. The problem now of course is the fact that many are now closed down because supermarkets and big DIY retail chains have put them out of business. The result is that the remaining shops have been running short of bread, milk etc. as car owners nip around to the local store instead of doing their weekly shop and risking a car accident/problem.
It doesn't just effect food retailers, if you walk up to Waterlooville today, the car parks are pretty much empty, so basically if you remove the car as an option, all those big stores become 'white elephants', as the unfit UK public shy away from using their two legs.

What is obvious, is that localisation would work without the benefit of cars. The snow has given us a vision of past times and a potential sustainable future.