Photo by Cristiana Bardneau, used under Creative Commons licence.

Well, right now I’m looking out of my window at a very white world.

It’s a snowday! I’m sure that many of you have children hoping that school will be cancelled.  Quite a few of us probably hope that work will be cancelled… even if we like our jobs, it’s tough to get there when public transport snarls.  In Britain – let’s just be honest – we have our strengths and we have our weaknesses, and coping with snow is not our finest hour.

So today is a day to put into practice the five principles of taekwondo.

Courtesy: let’s all show respect to one another and pull together when we’re having a tough time.

Integrity: our employers need us to try to get to work if we can, and do a good job in difficult circumstances. I know it’s tempting to take a duvet day  – but as honourable people we want to do our work, support our families and support the economy.

Perseverance: that speaks for itself. It’s not easy to plough on in the sleet and snow and cold.

Self-control: traffic and travel disruption is stressful. We see road rage, bike rage, train rage, bus rage, when people can’t get where they want to go when they want to go there. None of this raging helps one bit, and it makes a difficult day worse for everyone. 

Indomitable spirit: it will soon be spring. Warm sunny days will come. Let’s just take a deep breath and get through this.

Keep safe, travel safe, and keep warm. Have a great day.