six a.m., winter
They are unique and indispensable . From the north of the county right down to the south they alone stand for civilization , applied science , organized manufacture , and the century -- until you come to Wolverhampton . They are unique and indispensable because you can not drink tea out of a teacup without the aid of the Five Towns ; because you can not eat a meal in decency without the aid of the Five Towns . For this the architecture of the Five Towns is an architecture of ovens and chimneys ; for this its atmosphere is as black as its mud ; for this it burns and smokes all night , so that Longshaw has been compared to hell ; for this it is unlearned in the ways of agriculture , never having seen corn except as packing straw and in quartern loaves ; for this , on the other hand , it comprehends the mysterious habits of fire and pure , sterile earth ; for this it lives crammed together in slippery streets where the housewife must change white window-curtains at least once a fortnight if she wishes to remain respectable ; for this it gets up in the mass at six a.m. , winter and summer , and goes to bed when the public-houses close ; for this it exists -- that you may drink tea out of a teacup and toy with a chop on a plate . All the everyday crockery used in the kingdom is made in the Five Towns -- all , and much besides . A district capable of such gigantic manufacture , of such a perfect monopoly -- and which finds energy also to produce coal and iron and great men -- may be an insignificant stain on a county , considered geographically , but it is surely well justified in treating the county as its back garden once a week , and in blindly ignoring it the rest of the time . Even the majestic thought that whenever and wherever in all England a woman washes up , she washes up the product of the district ; that whenever and wherever in all England a plate is broken the fracture means new business for the district -- even this majestic thought had probably never occurred to either of the girls .