When we get snow – or even just the threat of it – we somehow seem to go into panic mode. We stock up on enough milk and bread to see us through the next month and wonder when life will ever be the same again.

I’ve just come back from a week skiing and when it comes to snow, the French (or anyone who lives with the white stuff on the ground for about four months of the year) can definitely teach us a thing or two.

It’s a simple solution. They just shrug their shoulders and get on with it. If they can’t go anywhere, they stay in and crack open a bottle or two.

Take, for instance, the day we were all supposed to be going tobogganing. Not just any old tobogganing but down a 6km run.

We’d been gearing up for it all week, so you can imagine how disappointed we were when the snow arrived and just kept falling. Visibility was down to just a few metres and they cancelled the trip.

“No probleme!” declared the hotel staff. We had been promised tobogganing and that’s what we were going to get. They then spent the next half an hour gathering all the soft furnishings they could lay their hands on to build a giant cushion at the foot of the lobby stairs. They covered the stairs and cushions with a giant tarpaulin and then started shovelling snow from outside.

After much whacking down with a shovel, the run was complete and so we spent the next half an hour watching one person after another shoot down the staircase on a sledge.

Now, if I’m honest, it probably wasn’t the safest thing in the world to do (particularly for the man who tried to come down standing up) and I really wouldn’t recommend that you try it at home, but there were no broken bones, just a few dented egos and plenty of laughs.

So at the very least, I’ve got my own toboggan ready and I’ll be challenging the neighbours to a race down the nearby hill.

In a bizarre inverted snobbery, many seasoned festival-goers will say you haven't experienced an event like Glastonbury unless it has rained and become a giant muddy swamp.

But when the sun shines, the temperatures reach the high 20s and the music is as good as it was at the opening day of the Hop Farm Music Festival, it doesn't come much better.

The atmosphere was pretty laid back throughout the day. Most people in the crowd appreciatively bobbed their head thoughout, even to headliners the Eagles, occassionally stretching to a bit of mild arm swinging.

Yet the main reason for this wasn't the generally mature crowd's reserved nature. It was awe. Pure rock inspired awe.

Right from the off on the main stage the standard was set by first class sets from Transfer, City and Colour and classic rock legend Jimmy Barnes.

When organisers ushered the relatively unknown City and Colour off stage to keep the running order on schedule, the move was met with boos. The crowd had come to be entertained.

It was 1970s heroes 10cc who stirred fans into the first few singalongs. After finishing their set with Dreadlock Holiday, they returned to perform Rubber Bullet, only to lose all power.

A short period of frantic rushing around followed but 10cc were soon out finishing their set closer again.

The big screens either side of the stage stayed off throughout Seattle band Death Cab For Cutie's set but returned during Brandon Flowers uplifting show. It is a credit to the festival that the techinical issues were forgotten by the time The Killers' frontman unexpectedly invited his bandmate Mark Stoermer to join him for Read My Mind.

Brandon's solo material was well received although a few eyebrows were raised when he closed his set on  a German trance-like version of Mr Brightside. No doubt this was an effort to not jeopardise the integrity of The Killers' material and despite the heavy bass, it still went down pretty well.

Main support Bryan Ferry's smooth set had many long instrumental phases. Bizarrely it was the appearance of a hot air balloon over the main stage which sparked the crowd into life but Ferry captialised on the audience's renewed fervour with Let's Stick Together and Slave to Love. Everyone in the crowd had their arms raised when he came back on stage for an encore of Jealous Guy.

Anyone who thought they could then nip over to the Big Tent to catch Ocean Colour Scene perform The Day We Caught A Train was disappointed. The tent was completely full for the Britpop legends' set.

When the Eagles emerged for their hour and a half long show they instantly got the crowd hooked with opener Hotel California.

Their classic country rock is unmistakable and Joe Walsh became the star of the show with his elaborate solos, which had jaws dropping as the night set in. The big singalongs were Taking It Easy, Boys of Summer and their set closer Desperado.

The exciting thing is that although Morrissey and Prince have a lot to live up to, it feels like the festival's big moment is yet to come.