When I was a young lad living in the wilds of the Yorkshire Dales any thoughts of relying on the council to come dig us out when its snowed were pure fantasy, and yes, it did snow a lot for weeks at a time but we still carried on life as near normal as possible.
My dad always had a pair of Town & Country tyres for the winter months, not just for snow but for muddy roads too. In winter he always carried a couple of hessian sacks and old doormats in the boot, along with a bag of sand and a shovel! Sometimes he would keep a paving slab in the boot to get extra weight over the back wheels (rear wheel drive of course) He did carry snow chains but hated using them as they damaged the tyres, so he also carried some short bit of rope and would tie 3 or 4 loops round each rear tyre to get extra grip on the rare occasion the T&C tyres were not good enough. Everybody carried a tow rope which was more often than not used for pulling tourists off muddy verges, sometimes earning a few bob to buy a pint 
We always cleared the footpath outside our houses, and the local kids would go round clearing snow for the few elderly neighbours and not expect to be paid for it, but we we always accepted slice of home made cake if it was offered.
I cannot ever remember a school being closed, we got there even if we had to walk some of the way, and I even remember one girl arriving on a horse. There was no gas or oil heating in the school, just an ancient coke boiler that heated a few radiators, ice on the inside of windows was not unusual!
We just got on with life, we had to, snow was part of living in the Yorkshire Dales! I now live down South and am retired so can choose not to go out on the rare occasion that it snows, but I still carry a shovel and a couple of old sacks in the boot, I also clear the footpath outside my house and spread some rock-salt to make it safe for visitors. (The postie would probably claim if he fell over otherwise 
)
OK, this is 50+ years ago and my dads car was a 1939 Standard 8 (Replaced with a later Standard 10 and then a Triumph Herald!) I think sometimes these days we expect too much, its always somebody else’s job, be careful it might be yours!