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because in the summer a lot of the boys used to strip off and go skinny-dipping in there. Still do as well.’
    â€˜Oh, the boys do that in the rivers in Ireland too,’ Sally said.
    â€˜I remember,’ Kate said. ‘And all the girls were forbidden to go near, never mind look.’
    â€˜And weren’t you ever tempted to have a little peek?’ Susie asked with a grin.
    Kate exchanged a look with her sister and admitted, ‘I was sometimes.’
    â€˜And me,’ Sally said. ‘But I never did. I mean, Mammy would go mad if she found out, but really it was because I would have had to confess it to the priest.’
    â€˜Oh, the priests in Ireland hold the morals of the young girls tight,’ Susie said. ‘And it annoys me sometimes that the boys have all the fun, but in this case –  while I wouldn’t mind plodging in the clearsparkling rivers in Ireland – you wouldn’t get me near a mucky canal for love nor money.’
    â€˜Nor me,’ Sally and Kate said together.
    Sally turned her attention back to the sights. They were over the bridge now, leaving the canals to weave down behind the houses again. Kate said, ‘Now we are  coming to Nechell’s, where you will see really squashed-up houses – I’d say not that much bigger than the canal barges.’
    Sally agreed with her. ‘They don’t look real,’ she said. ‘And there are so many of them, all tightly squeezed together.’
    â€˜Oh, they’re real all right,’ Kate said grimly. ‘They call them back-to-back houses. And you’ll see plenty more when we go through Aston.’
    â€˜Yeah, Kate’s right,’ Susie said. ‘And we’re coming to Aston Railway Station now.’
    Sally looked around her with interest. They passed a large brick building that Kate told her was a brewery and a big green clock that had four faces on it, standing in a little island all on its own; it was surrounded by all manner of shops, very like those at Stockland Green. Susie told her, ‘There are factories too. Small ones tucked in beside the houses.’
    Sally shook her head. ‘It’s all so different from Ireland,’ she said. ‘You must have found it all strange at first, Kate.’
    â€˜Oh, I did,’ Kate admitted. ‘And for a time I was really homesick, but it was something I knew I had to get over. But now I’ve made my life here and I wouldn’t ever want to go back to Ireland to live. And look, we’re passing the fire station now and soon we’ll turn into Steelhouse Lane and reach the terminus.’
    â€˜Steelhouse Lane is a funny name for a street.’
    â€˜Not if the police station is on the street too,’ Kate answered. ‘And opposite is the General Hospital and that’s another hospital that used to be a workhouse.’
    â€˜Yes, and people have got long memories,’ Susie said. ‘Mom says there are old people today who still refuse to go in that hospital.’
    And Sally could understand a little of the trepidation people felt when she alighted from the tram and stood before the solid brick building of the General Hospital. It had a great many floors and she imagined all the poor inmates housed in there when it had been in use as a workhouse. ‘Come on,’ Kate said to her sister, catching hold of her arm, ‘there are much more interesting places to look at.’
    Sally tore her eyes away from the hospital and allowed herself to be led up the wide, tree-lined street with tram tracks running up the middle of it that Susie told her was called Colmore Row. They passed an imposing building with arched windows to the front and supported by ornate pillars. ‘Another station,’ Susie said to Sally. ‘That one’s called Snow Hill.’
    â€˜And if you look across the road you will see St Philip’s Cathedral,’ Kate said, and Sally looked across and