RICK JACKSON: The reality may be treacherous but there's nothing I'd like more than a white Christmas

Although Rick loves the snow, he knows the reality can lead to treacherous conditions

How very dare they have a great time, snowed off work and school and out playing as most of the country ground to a halt.

The only part of the country that didn’t grind to a halt was ours and, yes, I’m one of those people who were looking on enviously.

Why does the inner child in me surface at the first signs of the white stuff when I know all it really brings is misery?

In the preceding days I’d checked the forecast more times than is healthy to see if that rain icon would turn into a double snowflake, like it had done for areas as far south as Oxford.

But no, we got the cold, biting wind and with it, rain and then a sharp frost. Life can be so unfair sometimes.

Wouldn’t it be perfect if an Atlantic front crashed into a cold front from Siberia over the south of England on Christmas Eve?

It would be the most wonderful Christmas Day ever!

I forget the reality. There is the initial fun of walking in virgin snow, the crisp crunch under foot. And our little world becomes a sound-proof room with no echoes.

Then everything starts to freeze. The snow turns rock-hard, roads and pavements are covered in sheet ice, it’s treacherous. In fact, it’s downright dangerous.

Cars are abandoned, buses and trains cancelled, flights grounded. We can’t get to the shops and eventually have to eat that can of pineapple chunks at the back of the cupboard just to survive.

Okay, so it’s not quite that bad. But it came close to it back in snowy January 2013, after thinking we’d have to spend the night in the car on the approach slip road to Junction 11.

Perhaps we’ve had a lucky escape from the snow, after all?

But the thought of being snowed-in on Christmas morning, everything covered in a thick layer of the white stuff, while our log fire burns bright, sounds very romantic and appealing.

Then again, Wave 105 would go very quiet as I’m hosting the breakfast show on Christmas morning.

Let it snow!

SANTA, PLEASE MAY I HAVE A JET FOR CHRISTMAS?

We thought a trip to meet Santa at Paultons Park would be the perfect way to get the kids excited about Christmas.

The place looked so very festive, it was also the only place on the south coast to get some snow.

We went to see Peppa Pig and watch the children ride on the dinosaurs and climb about the soft play area while we drank coffee.

It was all going very well as we entered the grotto.

We met Rudolph and heard his tale of getting to the North Pole. We met the elves and polar bears, then we met Santa.

Poor Santa!

Holly had a meltdown and cuddled her daddy while Santa has been asked to bring Freddie a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aeroplane – and they cost more than £200m!

CHEGGERS – THE PERFECT GENTLEMAN

Really sad to hear of the death of Keith Chegwin this week at the age of just 60.

His smile is one I associate with the carefree days of my youth – watching his happy face beaming all over the telly – from Swap Shop to Cheggers Plays Pop. He even had a good singing voice, proved with his No 15 hit I Wanna Be A Winner with the band Brown Sauce alongside Maggie Philbin and Noel Edmonds.

Then, in my late teens, there was The Big Breakfast with him banging on people’s doors at the crack of dawn for the ultimate wake-up call.

He was one of those people who was the same off-screen.

Happy, cheery and very polite, a perfect gentleman.