Welcome to GWA Cars and Finance, GWA Cars & Finance is an independent company specialising in the sale and financing of new and used cars and vans in Chichester, West Sussex and the UK.

Well, it turns out that the thaw was nothing more than a brief pause between blasts of winter. So, it seems apt to point you towards our winter driving tips that we posted the other week and to plug our snow- and ice-chomping 4×4s: a new Mitsubishi L200 Barbarian and a previously cherished Nissan Navarra Aventura Auto.

Of course, the snow and ice is causing chaos with our roads and people’s plans:  getting stranded on a freezing cold motorway is nobody’s idea of Christmas fun. But I think the arctic weather isn’t all bad – it seems to bring out the best in some of us; goodwill to all men and all that.

I say this because this weekend, I set out reluctantly from my warm house for the supermarket (the cupboards were almost bare so there really wasn’t much other choice) and no sooner had I backed out of the garage and driven round the corner, then disaster struck. That weird noise wasn’t the underside of the car scrapping the frozen road, but a flat.

Rubbish. But that word (or a similar one) was barely past my lips when a woman stopped next to me and told me that her father was a mechanic and did I need his help? And then, seconds later, a gentleman appeared from his nearby house enquiring if I was OK.

Well, before you could say AA or RAC, the chap had moved his car on to the road and told me to back mine in so that we could get to work on an ice-free surface. In no time at all, the emergency spare was on and I was heading for Kwik Fit (where I parted with £60 for a new tyre). Makes you believe in the kindness of the human spirit all over again.

So, thank you kind man. There are Christmas cookies being baked in my kitchen as I type and I will make sure that some find their way to your front door. And all that leaves me to do is wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Oh, and drive safely!

To have a chat about buying or leasing a new or used car or van, contact Gary at GWA Cars & Finance on 01243 510 650 or sales@gwacars.com.