How to succeed at failing

Apparently the winter of 1964 was one of the coldest of the century (later I learn this is not quite the truth). Due to the severity of the weather, an ambulance is unable to get through to convey a soon to be mother to the hospital in Reading for the birth of child number seven. A midwife is dispatched to battle through furrows and flurries of snow bound for Wellington Road, Crowthorne. A street named in honour of the Duke of Wellington- the victor at the battle of Waterloo, whose influence has spread across the town from streets to schools named in his honour.

The subsequent days remained bitterly cold with snow rising up to window sills. The youngest is settled permanently in front of the grate of the coal fire to maintain circulation. The weather eases and the blood of an entire country starts to circulate again as does the blood of the newborn.