We may have lost a few snowmen to the great Winter Wonderland in the Sky, but by and large the streets are still covered with a hefty portion of the white stuff, and particularly with Christmas coming there are a few important points to bear in mind in the adverse conditions. Read on for the latest from Islington Council on how things are running.

The nitty gritty on grit

A council rep tells us that so far, the Council has: gritted more than 1000 miles of road, including nine separate grittings of the council's 13 priority routes. It has poured roughly 210 tonnes of salt on the carriageway and approximately another 40 tonnes on footways. To do this, it's had to deploy gritting teams on weather-dependent shifts, which has include overnight work.

Rubbish weather

If you're worried about waste disposal in the adverse conditions, fear not: Islington has continued residential refuse and recycling collections as normal throughout the worst of the snow, and will continue to do so. It helps the teams if you can keep excessive snow and ice off your outdoor bin (where it has a habit of gathering), but so far the collections have been every bit as reliable as usual.

White Christmas?

If you're planning on staying local for the upcoming break, you'll probably be wondering if all this inconvenience will be made worthwhile by the promise of a picture-postcard white Christmas. William Hill has taken more than 10,000 bets on a snowy 25th December, but sadly for Londoners they've now slashed their odds to 5/4 against on Christmas day snow.