Perhaps the best way to deal with this is to examine the Just War theory, which is an attempt to regulate when a war can be fought (jus ad bellum) and what constitutes acceptable conduct within a war (jus in bello). When is it right to throw a snowball, and how big can it be? Should snowballs only be thrown in self-defence, or can they be deployed in a pre-emptive strike on someone who is clearly amassing an arsenal? Clearly snow left in the fridge would fall foul of jus in bello, but what about snowballs which unintentionally contained twigs or small stones? Who passes for non-combatants in such an arena?

Yet despite the existence of Just War theory, none of its main contributors ever dealt with snowballs in the specific sense, not even Augustine, perhaps the most important philosopher in this area. Yes, it didn't snow much in North Africa, but maybe Augustine was also a bit of a hippocrite, as he refused to even raise such questions. Apart from the above theory, today also provided a chance to explore the idea that ordinary citizens being armed acts as a deterrent to the criminal classes.

I spent most of my time unarmed, and walked passed a number of snowball fights unharmed. Yet within a few minutes of fashioning snow into a snowball, purely to pass the time, I found myself under assault (although my assailants had kindly challenged me first- a scene reminiscent of the Medieval practice of single combat before a battle, or the Early Modern duel- although they ignored my refusal). A lesson about violence begetting violence perhaps?