It's the end of the world as we know it as we go back to basics
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THE DEEP freeze that hit Wexford last week put paid to any lingering delusions of Celtic Tiger grandeur and brought everyone back to caveman basics – heat, food and water.
No more existing to shop, it was shopping to exist as people ignored sophisticated low-fat options and bought spuds and stewing beef again instead.
January diets went out the window and the January sales didn't happen. Having a Body Mass Index with a few points to spare was a necessary survival technique and buying any new clothes apart from wellies, woolly socks, hats and gloves didn't come into it.
As rivers and lakes (not to mention boom-built swimming pools) froze over, we all transformed into heat-seeking missiles. Electric heaters and electric blankets flew off the shelves of white goods shops and woolly blankets which haven't seen duty since the last recession, were unearthed from the bottom of the hot press to add weight to beds.
All over Wexford, households ran out of water due to frozen pipes and people used buckets of water carted from friendly, unaffected neighbours to flush their toilets.
In an 'end of world' scenario, the Council used hydrants to fill containers for residents in housing estates.
Dangerously icy roads kept us all in our caves and the economy, already licking its wounds, sustained further injury, as a result.
Supermarkets experienced a bonanza and ran out of salt as people panic-bought in anticipation of worse to come. Fuel merchants also thrived.
But most other businesses were frozen out as people stayed home to stoke up the fire and while the snow has melted, it's going to be a very cold January for them as they pick up the financial pieces.
- Maria PEPPER
