Light snow causes rail chaos

Off to Lewes station at 06:30 with a tiny snowfall in the last half hour. No sign of the 06:49 to London and passengers are told over the public address system to divert via Brighton. They reach Platform Four in time to see the Brighton service departing.
Around 07:25 a London train pulls in and off we go in fits and starts with the train struggling to pick up the juice from the third-rail system. Constant apologies from the Connex staff - slogan "a good day out for everyone."
We come to a full stop south of Keymer junction and eventually reach Wivelsfield, not a quarter of the way to London, at 10:26. At this point your correspondent has a sense of humour failure and walks to Burgess Hill in search of brunch.
My girlfriend Annette, here from Toronto and looking forward to a day out in the big city, marvels at how the railway comes to a juddering halt for so trivial a cause.