The view from my window this morning was of a small white covering on everything: snow. This isn’t deep snow I’m talking about – there was only about an inch of it, judging by the flat, undisturbed surfaces in my garden – but upon seeing it my first thought was “Oh no.”

People who drive in and around Bristol can’t cope with small amounts of snow. If only three snowflakes fall, and even those three are nothing more than a rumour, then traffic becomes slow: this seems to have happened last Thursday when I was making my way home. So now we’ve had a few dozen genuine flakes, that surely means traffic chaos. That was my fear – that’s why I thought “oh no” – and it was confirmed by the radio.

With that in mind, I decided to put up a page of hints and tips on how to drive in the (pitifully small amount of) snow we have in Bristol. However, having given the matter some thought, I’ve decided that most of the things I could suggest should be common sense – and ruling out the common sense ones, we’re left with just one which, I think, is the most important tip of all:

• If you feel that you are losing control of your car in these so-called “adverse” conditions, if you can see my car please try to aim for it. It seems to me that since you aren’t capable of controlling your car in these conditions, if you try to avoid my car there’s a danger that you might hit it, but if you aim for it you’ll probably miss – and I’d very definitely prefer it if you missed. Thanks.