SEVERAL inches of snow. Sidewalks that get icy as daytime thaw gives way to nighttime freeze. Proper jacket-and-gloves weather.

Where Ed Hill came from, they've got a name for conditions like this: spring.

Ed, Nottingham Panthers' newest signing, comes to the side from the Aces ice hockey club in Alaska's largest city, Anchorage. There, they do things a bit differently.

For example, they don't shut schools and abandon offices when there's a couple of inches of snow on the ground.

Also, they don't plough the snow. There's no point. Instead they just let it fall, then drop some gravel on it.

Then everybody drives on the gravel.

"We got our first snow in October," Ed explained. "In Alaska, you're getting a couple feet of snow and kids are still going to school."

As a newcomer, Ed's certainly not about to disparage a place just because its TV news carries scrolling headlines like "Wiltshire council running out of salt". But he made it into work every day this week. The Boston native even notes with pride that his home city isn't exactly a snow slacker.

"They got more snow than they did in Alaska last year, and this year as well," he said, adding that Boston's schools, businesses and large public transport network also tend to keep running.

Of course, occasionally shocks do happen. This winter, Mother Nature did got the better of Anchorage. For one day, the kids got to stay home.

Snow didn't do it – ice did. An ice storm can still bring Alaska to a halt.

Ed and the other Aces still made it to the arena for training that day. Took forever, though.

"You would step out of your car and just fall immediately," he said. And that's from someone who's paid to be good on the ice.