I normally write this column in, or on my way to, Dorset after a week spent in Parliament.

However, I am currently writing this column staring out of the windows of my office in Parliament which looks onto an embankment and a river both of which are showing only mild signs of the snows that were quite thickly piled earlier in the week.

Alas, the conditions on the A303 and A35 have made it impossible to travel as normal to the south west at present.

I am always very reluctant to let unusual weather conditions interrupt the normal pattern of life – on the grounds that it is important to deal with nature rather than being defeated by it at every turn.

But I learnt from my sailing days that there are times when the wiser course is to admit that the forces of nature have got the better of us and wait a little before venturing out.

This, alas has been one of those times. I have been struck, however, when speaking to people in West Dorset on the telephone, by the general cheerfulness and resilience that almost everyone has once again displayed in the face of what are really quite inconvenient circumstances.

And it is heartening, also, to have heard a number of tales of community spirit coming to the fore in order to assist those who have faced the greatest difficulties.

Whenever one is inclined to be pessimistic about the prospects for humanity, ones faith is restored by the way that people come together to deal with difficulties of this sort.