We went into town, on the 88 bus. The three of us could fit into one of the seats that was meant for two adults, facing forwards. Our favourite place to sit was beside the back of the bus, the long seats that faced each other just beside where you got on.

Mum told us a story of when we were all much younger and we were all sitting on one of those seats, taking up all the room. A man in a suit got on, looked at the three of us, looked at Mum, and started to speak. From the look on his face she thought that he was going to say something rude, like “Why are those children taking up all that space?” but he didn’t. He said “Peas in a pod, madam, peas in a pod”, very quickly.

When we were going into town on the 88 Mum would look at us sometimes and repeat it. “Peas in a pod, madam, peas in a pod.”

 

Sometimes it was too crowded downstairs and we couldn’t sit in our favourite seat. We had to sit upstairs, where it was all smoky. Mum smoked but she never smoked on the bus.