The Garden Villa

Two weeks before Christmas we moved into a converted tool shed, at the bottom of the garden at 57 Alexandra Avenue, in Southall. The unfathomable overcrowding of Southall has forced new immigrants into all manner of housing situations- many families live several people to a small bedroom, sleep on the floor of the business where they work, etc. For us, this meant sharing a very small house with five families from India, Pakistan, and Mauritius. We found a room in the shed, measuring 10 feet by 15 feet, which was just large enough for a small gas range, a bed, a sofa, and a small bathroom. But it was lovely. I will never understand what purpose there might have been in our original move to Commercial Road. It resulted in a significant loss of income, a terribly stressful time for us, and for a great loss of time in many ways. One thing that it did do was to inure us to squalid living conditions. The move to the shed was a blessing and a relief. It was secure in that it was located within the walls of a larger house, we had neighbours with whom we could share, and it was but a short walk to Micah’s work. For Heidi, however, it created a much longer commute which did add stress to an already stressful degree programme.

In the weeks following our move, we were able to fix the place up and were settled happily into what we christened the Garden Villa (in Britain, posh folk often name their houses, rather than having street addresses). We have included here some pictures from our Christmas eve together, and one shot from one side of the Villa to the other, and of some of the families with whom we lived.