Teviot Tales - Rachel

You turn to see a little girl, pink puffa jacket, hair in short jet black twist outs, mittens on her hands. She repeatedly tries to climb onto a boulder. Falls back again and again, doesn't give up. There's a bench next to you, and Spotlight Cafe up ahead. [[Sit on the bench->bench sitting]] [[The silver catches your eye again->Reflections on Spotlight like the scales of a fish]]. [[Walk on->walk on]] from here.

This is where it starts Teviot An estate in Poplar. A tall blue-sky day In [[Winter]]

The shadows are long. People hurry by. Wrapped up in coats and thoughts of lengthening days. The time is around 3pm. Just before the children [leave school]<c1| (click: ?c1)[Maybe just after, before [rush hour.]<c2|] (click: ?c2)[This is a time, not just a place. It's a season, not just [a time.]<c3|] (click: ?c3)[We're standing in the Teviot Estate. Cracked tarmac under [our feet.]<c4|] (click: ?c4)[ [[What do we know about this place?->what do we know about this place?]] [[What can we see?->what can we see?]] [[Who are 'we', anyway?->who are 'we', anyway?]] ]

Teviot is just a place, you know? Some people's home. It was a place of industry, of docks and labour Of muck under your fingernails and cracked skin. Echoes ring of the history of the workers. Who once stood together and tried to change the shape of [[the future->Solidarity]]. A place made of [[statistics]] A place made of [[history]] A place made of [[people->the mums of Teviot ]] A place shaped by [[three sides->The three sides of the triangle]] [[Who are 'we', anyway->who are 'we', anyway?]]

What can you see? A [[boxer striking air]]. A [['No Spitting' sign]]. [[Ammar]] striding along, hands pushed deep into his coat pockets.

I know who I am. I don't know who you are. That's OK though. My name's Hannah. I'm White. I'm 31. I've got blonde hair and wear glasses most of the time. I'm from the north if you're from London, but if you're from the North, I'm from the (link-reveal: "Midlands.")[ I'm not going to pretend I'm not part of this. These words you're reading, even if they're the words of someone I spoke to - they were (link-reveal: "chosen by me.")[ That doesn't make them not-real. It's just it's better if we understand that I was here, and I was a specific kind of person, who asked specific (link-reveal: "questions of this place.")[ And I'm travelling with you. Reader, player, person. Hello. Sometimes we'll be a 'you', and sometimes a 'we'. Sometimes I might talk to you. [[Where are we, again?->what do we know about this place?]] ]]]

The Census of 2011 says the following things about the Teviot Estate: {(live: 2s)[ (either:"2,010 people live here", "There are 540 children", "259 of children here live in poverty", "39% more children are in poverty here than the national average", "There are 1,365 16-65 year olds", "495 of the people who live here are White British")]} {(live: 3s)[ (either:"905 of the people who live here are Asian", "300 people from Teviot are black", "1460 of the people who live here have a UK passport", "620 of Teviot people say they are Christian", "860 of locals are Muslim", "This is one the 20% most deprived areas of the UK", "There is a higher than average childhood obesity rate")]} {(live: 4s)[ (either:"After housing costs the weekly average household income is £270", "60% of households own no cars.", "43% of the people here 'feel they belong to their neighbourhood'", "Air pollution (Benzene, Nitrogen Dioxide, PM10s and Sulphur Dioxide) levels are higher than average.")]} {(live: 3s)[ (either:"435 of the people here have a limiting long term illness", "89.3% of the people here live in flats", "67% of people rent their home", "The average cost of a house is £268,235", "33% of the houses here are overcrowded", "545 of 16-65 year olds have no qualifications",)]} Numbers. [[What else do we know about this place?->what do we know about this place?]] [[Show me people, though?->show me people]]

There's a film called Flying a Flag for Poplar. You can watch it on Youtube. It shows shaky black and white footage of men standing in great crowds by the waterside, vying for work. "Before 1899 [...] The labourers, which were the majority of the men, weren’t organised. They weren’t in any union at all, they were casuals, who stood on the stones and [[waited for a job]]." [[What do we know about this place?->what do we know about this place?]]

They stood together to fight for things they would not be given alone. “For most people the feeling of solidarity come from the unions, in building up the unions they built up the community. The union stood for the common good, instead of being out for yourself they stood for equality, justice, and loyalty.” 8 months ago [[I->who are 'we', anyway?]] listened to the narrator of an old film about Poplar and I wondered if I could ask people if we still have 'solidarity'. If we still have the language to pose [[the question]].

"Do you feel like you're a part of this community?" [[I->who are 'we', anyway?]] would say "tell me about the last act of kindness you saw?" I asked. "What do people from here have in common?" There were some answers. But I don't know, that idea of being stronger together... Did that go? Tell me [[more about this place->what do we know about this place?]] Ask [[Terri-Ann]].

"In 1889 there was a great strike for the dockland’s tanners, which was really against conditions, the casual system. They closed all the docks, and led daily marches to the city, they even organised their own relief. After 5 weeks they won, The Docks, balkside and general labourers union was formed with about 30,000 men. The lesson was you could win, but only when you all stuck together.” [[Solidarity]] [[Explore Teviot->what can we see?]].

Teddy "The Pride Of Poplar" Baldock defends his turf just outside of Spotlight, by the DLR. Teddy Baldock was a bantamweight from the 1930s. His grandson raised the money for the statue, for "a local boy" who made it. Read [[the plaque->Read the plaque.]] Look at the [[skyline]]. Turn towards [[Spotlight->Reflections on Spotlight like the scales of a fish]].

They're everywhere. Screwed to the sides of the buildings. [[These buildings though->Let's think about these buildings]]. No, let's [[walk on from here]]. Or follow [[The 309]] as it labours over a speed bump on the way to Canning Town.

Ammar is walking to pick his little girl up from school. The air is cold and he hunches his shoulders under his black blue bodywarmer. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/10.png" align="right"> Hands deep in his pockets Ammar curses the pale imitation sun, trick warmth. He moves through the growing throng of parents all in black, brown, grey, and misses the colours of home. In [[Kuwait]] he would wear yellow, red, orange, green. In Kuwait people would move slow and talk to people. [[Listen to him]]. [[Walk on->walk on]].

Later, much later, I find myself looking at Kuwait on a map. Kuwait is small country near where Iran borders Iraq. It meets the sea of the Persian Gulf at its south. The population of the whole country is less than half of that of Greater London. =><= Kuwait: 17,820 km² Pop: 3,369,000 (2013, World Bank) Greater London: 1,572 km² Pop: 8,539,000 (2014, ONS) <= When [[Ammar]] moves there is a penned in look in his eyes which I read differently after understanding this.

You sit on the bench. People walk by. You watch them pass{(live: 2s)[(either: ".")]}{(live: 3s)[(either: ".")]}{(live: 4s)[(either: ".")]}{(live: 6s)[ (either:"Duffel coat, young Asian man, cigarette in cupped hands, shoulder bag, thinning hair.", "Grey hoody, white shirt, yellow tote and Co-op bag for life.", "Light jeans, white, green Eastpack backpack.", "“Mummy did you call my name?” She kneels and picks the only dandelion in the grass, shows it to her mother.", "Two girls in navy headscarves, blazers over long skirts. Square framed glasses: “you know Asian parents, man.”", "Black puffa jacket, blonde hair, she stands in the middle of the grass with her buggy, talking on her phone in rushed Polish.", "Hooded coat, a round flat topi cap, shalwar kameez worn with black and blue high tops.", "Two young black men, one short in a blue striped coat, the other grey, a sharp shape-up. 'The officers, they don’t leave you alone'.", "Shiny Adidas black and cream shoulder bag, light brown skin, a limp that staggers the cadence of his feet.", "Stumping after her daughter: 'Pushing a child down the slide and going straight down afterwards will mean that other child will get hurt'", "Dark dark skin, silver eyeshadow, natural hair pulled straight back, fur collar, leather jacket, tiny sneakers.", "Schlepping New Balance trainers, round face, his hips swing as he walks. Huge headphones, leaky music.", "Slow, very slow. Brown brogues, pocket clink with each step. A neatly looped scarf. He puts his bag down on a bench, sits next to it, stares at his phone, lights a cigarette. Smokes.", "A young brown-skinned man, red trainers, 80s sunglasses, carefully maintained flat top, leather jacket, hands in pockets.", "A farmer’s flat cap on an older black man with greying hair. Red and blue check shirt, grey creased trousers, bright white sneakers. A heavy backpack.", "A short man, black hooded coat, pale skin, carefully places his toddler down. She holds a blue balloon. The children queue behind him on the play equipment as he walks her slowly to the top of the slide.", "Flowing grey veil, white converse sneakers, she grasps her long black jacket against the wind.", "A little girl unsteady on a purple and silver sparkly bike weaves, falls over, scrapes her knee. Her mother picks her up “hold on tight, Boo.” She rearranges her bags to hold her daughter’s shoulder.", "Two white men in their late teens in ambitious shorts, they kick a luminous yellow football and hurtle around, trying to keep warm.", "A young black girl with bleach-streaked black twist outs and red trousers repeatedly throws herself at the boulders until she manages to climb one. Her bigger sister and brother come over and easily join her, get bored, climb off. She remains.", "An ice cream van sounds its chimes and children cry “ice cream van!” “give me ice cream!”")]} The huge silver 'Whoosh' sign along [[the DLR->The DLR]] catches the light.

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">Bacon, egg, sausage, beans, tinned tomatoes, and two slices of white toast. A cup of milky tea. Lee sits in blue Poplar Harca overalls, his gold tooth glinting in the window struck winter sun. He [[speaks and eats]].

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">"Where am I from? I've lived everywhere. All over" "I was in North Wales ’75 to ’81 in a [[Childrens Home->care]]. I was 8 when I went, until about 15, then I went to another home in Essex. For about a year, then I was put in a b&b, then I moved all along the Romford Road, 7 years I moved around." Lee doesn't find home in a place, he says. He likes nature, though, [[fishing]]. He can sit for weeks on end [[staring at a lake]].

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">"What I do is carp fishing , it's quite technical because you make your own baits up, inject it with certain milligrams of additives and if you over-do it you aren’t going to get a bite. It’s a buzz. Sometimes I cast out and I’ll leave it there for 24 hours you know, and it’ll just go-" Ask: '[[do you watch it the whole time?]]' Ask: '[[what do you like about it?]]' Ask: '[[what do you do with yourself when you're not fishing?]]'

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">When Lee talks about fishing, it's different to how he talks about everything else. His other thoughts are like clouds scudding in front of the sun. When he talks about fishing, his shoulder drop, eyes clear. "You’re in a world of your own" [[He says-->what do you like about it?]].

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">"No, I don’t watch it, I’ve got another two rods to play with at the same time. I’ll bait one up and leave it there, I’ll cast it and leave it until it goes." "I just enjoy, it you know, just looking at the water, even by the way the water is fizzing up you can tell if [[fish are feeding-->catching a fish]]. It's quite interesting."

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">"You forget about the world outside, it's [[peace->Peace]] and tranquillity just sitting there you’re in another world, you’re in another zone. Most fisherman will tell you that, you’re in another zone because you ain’t thinking about anything else apart from [[catching a fish]]."

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">Lee talks in depth about the process, about how to bait and how to set up your rods, and the quiet and the countryside. He doesn't mention once actually catching a fish - not that he doesn't catch fish, but that it's not the point. It's the being, not the doing of it. In the rest of his life, Lee is a [[doing-man-->what do you do with yourself when you're not fishing?]].

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">"Get up, go to work. 8am – 4pm. Get up, sweep, mop, sweep the estate and all that. Mop, do repairs and report repairs." Lee works on the estate. Before that he spent 18 years as a dustman. Lee knows the streets of the estate differently to most people who live and work there. 18 years of night shifts on the dust lorries. Places change [[at night]].

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">"It’s scarier, like people [[high on drugs or drunk]] and they see you with a visor and think oh lets start on the dustman. I’ve had people come up just try and start trouble, "what you looking at", just to try and start a fight. You have to walk away, you know. In the night its harder ain’t it..." [[I didn't see this Teviot]]. [[The pubs have gone]].

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">"I used to make videos of some of the people, you know, dancing and rowing in the street. I’ve got one of a woman bouncing up and down on a mattress… I seen one bloke he was humping a lamppost. He was having a row with his Mrs and I started singing *Love is in the Air*, next thing I know they’re both singing it and he’s gyrating up and down the lamppost with her. They stopped arguing after that." [[I didn't see this Teviot]].

I didn't see this Teviot. I didn't walk the streets much after dark. It's hard to get people to stop and talk to you, then. The community centres shut. And with no pubs, there's no place of gathering. [[The darkness encloses.]]

"There’s not one pub left in Teviot" "The Foresters they’ve turned into a flat, The Germans has gone flats, the only one they’ve got is, used to be the Duke of Wellington, Galvanisers they’ve called it now and it’s a very expensive restaurant pub. I’ve lived in Teviot for god knows how long and never ate there." "It’s like where are all these people coming from. You want to get community together why charge all this….’cause you’re just going to get all the [[posh people in there.]]"

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">"When I was put in Wales, I never went school, went [[fishing->staring at a lake]] every day instead. They had nothing where you could [[get education]]. The homes were set up by a bloke called David, head of [[child social services]]. 50 care homes in North Wales, and he had people going round abusing all the kids, sexually and that. One of them, Richard I think, he got jailed for 8 years, John got 25 years... But they both did the same thing."

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">"I self taught. I can read, write. I can build computers. I’ve got loads of certificates from courses I’ve been on. I didn’t get nothing at school but everything I’ve got I’ve either got from courses or self taught myself. And I just learnt myself, reading on [[the internet->an activist]]."

Lee is [[an activist]].

"We’re from Teviot! Mighty mighty Teviot!" The chant meets you as you walk into the centre. Laughter blows through like a gale, [[Gemma]] covers her face, [[Charlotte]] rolls her eyes. [[The mums of Teviot]], "We're [[East End girls]]". <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/Eastendgirls.png" align="right">

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/09.png" align="right">Rachel boxes. And runs. And spends lots of time in the gym. She's proud of herself, and her kids. She flexes and thumps her muscles to show you she means business. Her voice is strong and deep, her brown skin mixed [[East End Boy West Indian]].

Gemma's hair is so straight it sort of defies belief. Gingery blonde with precise highlights. She sits back a bit within the group but when she's alone with you she'll happily chat. Self-contained, not shy, she opens up straight away - about having her kids a lot later than everyone else, about the time her sister got stuck in the baby swing and the fireman had to cut her out. She says things like "'please' and 'thank you's cost nothing", and remembers skipping songs about [[sex and marriage]]. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/Eastendgirls.png" align="right">

Charlotte's hair is long and brown. Clear white skin, she sits neatly, tucking her hair behind her ears. Her littlest boy starts screaming at the computers, he's lost at his computer game. She picks him up, brown skin, natural hair, he rubs his fists into his eyes. We'll remember Charlotte somewhere else, when we're [[walking Uamvar Street]]. What about [[Gemma]]? <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/Eastendgirls.png" align="right">

They're the ones you meet. Walk around Teviot in the day, attend workshops or meetings, do your shopping, and they're the ones who'll greet you. Exchange words and milky tea. Many of them single, they're [[the glue]] between the children and society, on Teviot.<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/Eastendgirls.png" align="right">

'In East London everyone knows each other, everyone knows everyone", says Charlotte. 'Poplar is one of the poorest boroughs so if you haven’t got that get up and go, you’ve got nothing' (click-append: "nothing'")[ 'Fall into the street life, I’ve got friends on drugs, heroin addicts'] (click-append: "addicts'")[ 'My mum would say druggie even if you smoke a bit of cannabis. Like they just don’t even see that sort of people.'] Find out more about [[Charlotte]]. [[Gemma]] seems quiet. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/Eastendgirls.png" align="right">

Charlotte's standing outside her front door. A two-pint of blue-top milk in her hand. Charlotte is 18 years old. Just visiting. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/milk.png" align="right">Her little girl in tow. Her mum [[has always been ill->she was ill]]. What do you do now? [[Close your eyes]].

Lee has a Facebook group where he has collected thousands of supporters. For survivors of abuse in care. Challenging the cover-ups and the corruption they see at the heart of local and national government. He talks a lot about how the group is an emotional support as much as about protest. Lee smiles and says it's time for him to finish his lunch break. Time to stretch our legs. [[Head out into the cold-snapped air->walk on]].

"That’s what they want" "And that’s not the community then is it." "They want all us little poverty people, do you know what I mean, they want all them people, move them on, bring the upper class in. They want it all business" [[Terri-Ann]] brings over a cup of tea. [[Actually, let's leave here->It's time to leave]] Who was it who was talking about [[Yuppies]]?

Azyadi has lived in the UK for 15 years, she's quiet in a group, but alone speaks softly and articulately, smiling often. Her light headscarf is aqua blue with bright [[polka dots->yellow black polka dots]]. Azyadi described herself as 'proud to be Somalian'. {(live: 1s)[ (either:"Ahmed,", "Can you hear me?", "Are you there?", "Allah, hear me.") ]}<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/03.png" align="right"> [[The day everything changed]].

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/03.png" align="right">We walk with Azyadi to the bus stop. She sighs gently as she puts down her bags. Azyadi sat with me for an hour in Aberfeldy community centre. She told me [[her story->The day everything changed]].

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/03.png" align="right">“They kill your family in front of you. I don’t know how much we paid to get out of there, a lot. We suffered a lot, we were on a boat for 4 or 5 days, we had no food or drink. Someone gave me milk for my baby but the milk was bad and the baby became very ill. We were one of two boats that set off for Kenya. We watched the other boat sink." [[“All those people died”.]]

Terri-Ann runs the cafe. She's 'grassroots' she says. "Grassroots people should run the country really. [[We know poverty]], we know hardship, we know what its like to struggle, we know about housing issues. I just think grassroots should run the country."

"He was born at 26 weeks, he was on home oxygen so obviously walking down the street, him on oxygen you get to meet people, other mums. Some were nice, some weren’t, you know, but its like that in every area. Some wanted to know what was wrong with him, some stayed away." Someone walks by, what [[was it they said?->another fragment]]? Or maybe let's [[move on?->walk on]]. Is there a bus we can get on [[from here?->walk on from here]]

"I am a people person. I don’t care what race, what colour, what ethnic background. People are people at the end of the day. Being in the same place at the same time, you have to get on with it... most of the people on the estate are going through hardship so we can connect that way" Terri's starts making tea for [[Charlotte]], who's trying to fix a toy Malachi just broke. You decide to wave goodbye and head out, past the huge rosemary bush that obscures Munchkins nursery. [[You walk on.->walk on]]

The radio plays *Hello* through tinny speakers. A woman sat at the computers is swearing in French at her Hotmail account. Over by the blue sofas, a little boy carefully takes every toy out of the toy box. [[Join Lee for lunch.->have lunch with Lee]] [[Terri-Ann]]'s behind the cafe counter. [[The mums of Teviot]] are shrieking with laughter.

Herbert.<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/07.png" align="right"> "There used to be a strong sense of community, back then, but now all the youngsters can’t get houses, so they move out, ain’t they? It’s all yuppies now. You know, [[Canary Wharf]]." You asked him if he knows many people [[left in the area]], still.

Magaret pauses to watch a starling as it pulls at a piece of cold grass. She stirs, as a middle-aged woman walks past. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/margaret.png" align="right"> Margaret, straight flat grey hair, short. NHS glasses. A quilted plum-brown jacket. Large bags at her side. She walks up to the station front. Waits patiently for her card to announce its presence to the machine. The [[train pulls up->train arrives]].

When I talked to people about home, they often talked about peace. Different kinds of peace: pasta bubbling on the stove, the sound of children playing, roses tended in the garden that remind them of the country they grew up in, safety from war, hunger, persecution. Such a word encompasses all of us. Where would you find peace? [[The Canal]]. [[A bench in the park->bench sitting]]. [[In an ending->walk on?]].

Spotlight flickers in the low winter light. Incongrous against the matte red-grey brick of the surrounding estate. Like the scales of a fish the panels shine oily rainbows. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/02.png" align="right"> A women in a thick puffed coat and niqāb is standing looking at the light. She is remembering being a [[little girl]]. Her name is [[Mina]].

This is the "[[Limehouse Cut]]." Even though the sound of the motorway is heavy to your right, there's quiet here. It's the water. Still and cold under a rose-blue coloured sky. Scrunched up snags of ice jag the edges. [[Graffiti]] stretches across the redbrick wall. [[Wild things]] simmer under the surface.

One of the three dividing lines of the estate. The DLR line, the [[The Canal]] and [[The Motorway]]. [[Canary Wharf]] visible on the horizon. [[Margaret->my husband]] walks by.

Not quite a motorway, but it might as well be. 3 lanes in both directions. A gullet for the belly of the Blackwall Tunnel. Rarely a subway or a bridge over it. A wall of thundering HGVs, buses, cars and taxis. The sound is hard, the air is thick, the vehicles shrink you. Dead end. You can stop here if you want to. Or [[walk back down the cut through to the canal->Graffiti]].

[[The Canal]] ==> [[The Motorway]] <== [[The DLR]]

This is a piece for wandering. Not for wading through all in one go. It's yours to find pathways through. To move forward, click the [[blue links.]] If you want to go back, use the grey arrow to the left of each passage (it'll appear after your first click).

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/10.png" align="right">We interrupt his path just before he gets to Manorfield school. He's happy to talk. Well, he doesn't look happy, but he says he [[doesn't mind]].

You stand on the bit where Uamvar Street meets St. Leonards Road. Uamvar is a weird street name, you could [[Google it]] on your phone. Or walk towards [[Leonards Road]]? Walk back down [[Uamvar Street->walking Uamvar Street]]. Maybe get a cuppa at the [[Teviot Centre]]?

Try [["Uamvar Street" name origin]] Try [[Uamvar name]] Try [[Uamvar Street]]

You can carry on here down the [[The Motorway]]. Or you can wander off from the main landmarks and through-ways. Explore the pathways through [[blocks of flats]].

About 8,890 results. This is all estate agency links. Click [[House prices in Uamvar Street, London E14. Property ...]] Try [["Uamvar Street" name origin]] Try [[Uamvar name]] [[Put the phone away->put the phone away]].

About 257,000 results. These are all trash domains. Autofilled using basically all the streets in the UK. Nothing there. Try [[Uamvar Street]] Try [[Uamvar name]] [[Put the phone away->put the phone away]].

About 2,620,000 results Did you mean: Ambar name No, that's why we entered 'Uamvar' This is all trash domains, except... [[The New Statistical Account of Scotland: Perth]] [[Put the phone away->put the phone away]].

Pages 1224-5 "*Topographical Appearances.*--Its figure, though somewhat irregular, approaches to a parallelogram. Situated betwixt the Grampians and the Ochill hills, with a variety of hill and valley, it contains one considerable hill, the Uamvar of the "Lady of the Lake." The view from this hill is splendid and extensive." Huh, maybe it's a Scottish word then? Maybe we should [[put the phone away]].

Click: [[3 Uamvar Street E14]] Terraced house, Freehold, 3 Beds, 1 Bath [[8 Uamvar Street E14]] Terraced house, Freehold [[42 Uamvar Street E14]] Flat, Leasehold, 1 Bed, 1 Bath, 0 Recept Go back, try [["Uamvar Street" name origin]] [[Uamvar name]] Maybe we should [[put the phone away]].

Zoopla Estimate £429,000 Value change 26,250 (6.5%) from [1 year] Rental value £2,150 pcm Value range £420,000 - £437,000 Rental range £2,000 - £2,300 pcm [[back->House prices in Uamvar Street, London E14. Property ...]] [[Put the phone away->put the phone away]].

Zoopla Estimate: £214,000 Value change 15,700 (7.9%) from [1 year] Rental value £850 pcm Value range £206,000 - £223,000 Rental range £800 - £900 pcm [[back->House prices in Uamvar Street, London E14. Property ...]] [[Put the phone away->put the phone away]].

Zoopla Estimate £417,000 Value change £25,550 (6.5%) from [1 year ago] Rental value £2,100 pcm Value range £393,000 - £442,000 Rental range £1,950 - £2,250 pcm [[back->House prices in Uamvar Street, London E14. Property ...]] [[Put the phone away->put the phone away]].

You've been standing still for too long and despite the low sun, the cold is numbing the tips of your fingers. Best get moving. Walk towards [[Leonards Road]]. Walk back down [[Uamvar Street->walking Uamvar Street]].

*"On 5th May 1927, at the Albert Hall, London, Teddy Baldock was crowned Bantamweight Champion of the World after defeating Archie Bell of America for the vacant title. Aged just 19 and 347 days he became Britain's youngest every World Boxing Champion of the modern era."* About as interesting as plaques usually are. Look up at the [[skyline]]. There's a beep of opening doors on the [[DLR->The DLR]]. Turn towards [[Spotlight->Reflections on Spotlight like the scales of a fish]].

You can see a horizon, here. Langdon Park gives the sky breathing space, though it's still combed by cranes, climbed by growing buildings. In some places the horizon is a fixed thing, shifted only minutely by the seasons. Here the place is always sprouting upwards. [[Take a breath->take a breath]] [[The DLR]]

Cars weave between traffic calming obstacles. As you walk, you look at the houses, and the few corner shops. Two young boys chase each other down the road, pursued by a toddler, laughing. You think of Malachi, Charlotte's littlest. You remember Charlotte telling you about the year she [[became an adult->Charlotte's front door]].

The day is cold, but not harsh. Something catches the corner of your eye, a [[flash of pink->day is cold]] or [[of silver->Reflections on Spotlight like the scales of a fish]]?

1970s Bangladesh. A young country, turmoil and hunger, the scent of rajnigandha flowers on the air. Plenty of difficulty, but mostly, she remembers laughter: <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/02.png" align="right"> "It was sweet. I was loved. So many sisters. Sharing feelings, playing Ludo, shouting, arguing, Suhena would scream so loud you could hear her outside. My father would tell her “girls shouldn’t” but it was her natural sound. (click-append: "natural sound.")[ When I think about it I smile. My father taught my sisters to swim, but I did not know. I was so scared of the water... I regret it. We had a big pond. I fell in one day and Suhena saved me."] [[Take a breath->take a breath 2]].

Mina is not this woman's name. I spoke to this woman as part of a workshop for a Bengali Women's group. Women go to read Koran and practice their English. These women were warm and full of laughter. They would drift in, one by one, some a whole hour late. Pulling off layers, and lifting their niqāb to reveal bright headscarves and [[careful eyes]].

'Mina' is a name that I *did* come across in one of the workshops. Although, interestingly, it is not actually a traditional Bengali or Muslim name. It's Indian/Hindu in origin, and is a shortened form of *Meenakshi* (beautiful fish-shaped eyes; Meen = fish; akshi = eyes), so many of the Bengali women talked about food when they talked about home, and when they talked of food it was always fish curry. Simple fish dishes with few spices cooked in a matter of minutes. Scales like [[oil on water->little girl]]

{(live: 2.5s)[ (either: "This place.") ]} {(live: 4.5s)[ (either: "palace of Pret", "protein smoothie stalls", "shiny caravan parked up selling burritos to suits", "signs direct you to the Underground through a maze of shops", "hidden the water slinks around", "river run road cut through", "like walking into a pyramid a tomb", "cream coloured boxes and peach lingerie", "fruit blended", "contactless cards press", "pretzel stall air", "high in office buildings", "stale lifts exchange passengers", "key presses set in motion", "chains of reactions", "games with non player characters", "[[Escape->The DLR Back]]") ]} {(live: 4.5s)[ (either: "palace of Pret", "protein smoothie stalls", "shiny caravan parked up selling burritos to suits", "signs direct you to the Underground through a maze of shops", "hidden the water slinks around", "river run road cut through", "like walking into a pyramid a tomb", "cream coloured boxes and peach lingerie", "fruit blended", "contactless cards press", "pretzel stall air", "high in office buildings", "stale lifts exchange passengers", "key presses set in motion", "chains of reactions", "games with non player characters", "[[Escape->The DLR Back]]") ]} {(live: 4.5s)[ (either: "palace of Pret", "protein smoothie stalls", "shiny caravan parked up selling burritos to suits", "signs direct you to the Underground through a maze of shops", "hidden the water slinks around", "river run road cut through", "like walking into a pyramid a tomb", "cream coloured boxes and peach lingerie", "fruit blended", "contactless cards press", "pretzel stall air", "high in office buildings", "stale lifts exchange passengers", "key presses set in motion", "chains of reactions", "games with non player characters", "[[Escape->The DLR Back]]") ]} {(live: 4.5s)[ (either: "palace of Pret", "protein smoothie stalls", "shiny caravan parked up selling burritos to suits", "signs direct you to the Underground through a maze of shops", "hidden the water slinks around", "river run road cut through", "like walking into a pyramid a tomb", "cream coloured boxes and peach lingerie", "fruit blended", "contactless cards press", "pretzel stall air", "high in office buildings", "stale lifts exchange passengers", "key presses set in motion", "chains of reactions", "games with non player characters") ]} {(live: 4.5s)[ (either: "palace of Pret", "protein smoothie stalls", "shiny caravan parked up selling burritos to suits", "signs direct you to the Underground through a maze of shops", "hidden the water slinks around", "river run road cut through", "like walking into a pyramid a tomb", "cream coloured boxes and peach lingerie", "fruit blended", "contactless cards press", "pretzel stall air", "high in office buildings", "stale lifts exchange passengers", "key presses set in motion", "chains of reactions", "games with non player characters") ]}

The doors slide open. The glistening orange destination promises "Lewisham". The driverless carriages lurch forward. (link-replace: "West India Quay")[(link-replace: "Poplar")[(link-replace: "All Saints")[[[Langdon Park->The DLR Station Again]]]]]

You're back in Langdon Park. Spotlight infront of you. The School heavy behind it. Do you want to: [[Sit on a bench->bench sitting]] for a bit? Or [[walk the streets->walk on from here]].

When I meet Magaret I ask her about 'home' and she tells me about the DLR. She says she feels very lucky to have the station. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/margaret.png" align="right"> She tells me about the teenagers who use the safety bars to practice gymnastics. Her accent is not British, maybe Austrian or German but long worn away and I don't ask her where from. [[She boards the train]].

She tells me about the people who snack, who talk loud on their mobile phones, often not in English. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/margaret.png" align="right"> She says she likes to sit with no one behind her. And she often puts her shopping on the seat next to her. She doesn't want to annoy anyone, it's just, if her husband was still around, that's where he always would have sat. [[The doors close behind her.->what can we see?]] [[The 309 skirts the edge of the park.->The 309]] [[Have you visited the Teviot Centre yet?->Teviot Centre]]

The children are spilling out of the school doors, in a roar of {(live: 0.3s)[ (either: "delight", "complaint", "laughter", "anxiety", "elation", "anger", "indignance", "joy", "play", "friends", "football", "crisps rustles", "mummy!", "ahm!", "majka!", "mamam!", "daddy!", "tag", "pink gloves", "dropped bags", "bobble hats", "new braids", "ice cream", "winter sun", "ammi!", "maa!", "baba!", "teasing", "joking", "scooter wheels", "tripping", "running") ]} Parents swarm around the fencing, older brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. The sound is loud, but not hard. It is sweet and somehow always sounds like summer. A sound that from country to country needs no translation. Kathy [[walks by]].

Washing drying on the balcony. Radio floating up into the air. Old bikes locked to the railings. The smell of tumeric and chilli, pesto and sausages, pork and sauce. Lit by different lights. Filled with different lives. [[Held together]], by brickwork and circumstance.

Two young girls in headscarves play Jusin Bieber through shared headphones. They nestle next to each other on the bus stop bench. "Sorry" plays. *Yeah I know that I let you down Is it too late to say sorry now?* They are talking to each other about summer. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/05.png" align="right">They are looking forward to sitting in Anisha's garden playing music and reading magazines. Warm remembered sun lights their conversation. (click-replace:"conversation.")[ {(live: 0.5s)[ (either: "[[Ajmol]]", " ", "[[Ajmol]]", " ") ]} ]

You walk further up St. Leonard's Road. In front of you there's a bus stop. Two [[teenage girls->The 309]] and an [[older Somali woman]]. But maybe you're [[tired.->walk on?]] Maybe you want an ending.

Let's walk with her. Our presence in this place is slightly translucent, we won't frighten her. She's carrying shopping back from Chrisp Street. She moves slowly. Her back hurts. She has a blank face, but when she smiles it's warmed by cinnamon eyes. You don't know this, but I do: her name is [[Azyadi]].

I'm tired. Some days I came and spent time talking to people and it was exhausting. This... Listening is tiring. Isn't it? The choices I'm offering you are sometimes [[no choice at all]].

These streets are like streets in other estates, in other towns and cities. The buses owned by different companies, the history under the soil soaked by different [[flows of people]]. But streets like streets in other estates. In other towns and cities.

When I moved to London, 4 years ago, I was working part time for a company in Farringdon. I couldn’t afford the whole journey to work so I would get the train to London Bridge and walk 2 miles through the centre of London. I remember thinking - when I passed those thousands of people - how exhausting it was to just hold them all in my head. To not let them vanish into a sea of [['them']].

'Them' is a survival mechanism. (link-reveal:"Someone")[ - a guy called Marshall McLuhan -] once said that in the digital age ‘we wear all mankind as our skin.’ I walked the streets of Teviot for 6 months I collected stories, trying to find a way of reflecting them back to the world, a small attempt to break 'them' up into human shapes and sizes. [[What’s the point]]?

I don't always [[know...->...]]

Oh but it's beautiful here sometimes, [[though]].

When I talked to Gemma and Charlotte about community, they said "they're ain't none". They said it's hard to talk across cultures. 'It’d take a lot of hard work to make people trust each (link-reveal: "other'")[ 'You have to start small to get to (link-reveal: "big'")[ 'They could alter that a little bit with the next generation, put in a decent park, then all the kids play together. Then mum’s meet, over the park, that’s where [[mums meet]]']]<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/Eastendgirls.png" align="right">

I think back to the question [[of solidarity->Solidarity]] I started wandering the estate with. Solidarity driven by the unions, by workforces united by proximity and geography, that's gone. But there's still the solidarity of the mums. A mixed kind of solidarity. Like when Terri talked about [[Alfie]].

You wander for a while. As you do, people pass. Not very many men, but that's the time of day, isn't it? Mostly women, children, teenagers. You fall into step behind someone. You don't know this, but I do, her name is [[Azyadi]].

With its own complicated textures. "We call them the zombies. They’ll smoke crack and heroin, they’re not very nice. But, then again, it’s not very nice what they do, but they are nice people. They're always polite, say hello, know what I mean? There’s been times when my kids have fell over in front of them and they’ve give them a pound." [[A flat]]. [[Back to daylight->The DLR Station Again]].

"[[Peace]].. I pray for peace Peace is the smell of cooking, pasta and lasagne, peace is safety, relocation, calm, cool, it’s coming home, it’s my children playing, it’s the feeling of my family eating" [[Another fragment->another fragment.]].

"It was just me, my husband and our witnesses, in Bow, and I just had a simple lightly coloured dress, it was 22nd of December.<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/08.png" align="right"> It was just the feeling that finally everything falling into place, you know, with people we know, obviously family couldn’t get here from Poland and Iraq, but you know I know that they're always on our side." [[A house->Charlotte's front door]] . [[A flat]]. [[A sign that reads 'No Spitting'.->'No Spitting' sign]]

Decorated neutral. Magnolia, she likes Magnolia. Although the kitchen is green and white. A [[little boy->Alfie]] on oxygen, carefully held by his mother. Cream and brown sofa. Simon and Garfunkel play in the background "Sail on silvergirl, Sail on by. Your time has come to shine." We shouldn't intrude too long. Let's [[move on->The DLR Station Again]].

It doesn't change much. The colour, characters and shapes of the graffiti begin to feel friendly. Like landmarks, waypoints marked in paint and brick. Turn right towards [[The Motorway]]. Back up to [[the Estate]].

You shiver. {(live: 1.5s)[ (either: "Rusted wire.") ]} {(live: 3s)[ (either: "Algae bloom.") ]} {(live: 4.5s)[ (either: "Dark depth.") ]} {(live: 6s)[ (either: "Fluttering") ]} {(live: 6.5s)[ (either: "cobbles of light.") ]} {(live: 8s)[ (either: "At night") ]} {(live: 8.5s)[ (either: "you can hear") ]} {(live: 9s)[ (either: "the river groan.") ]} The sound that for a minute or two felt like peace, suddenly feels piercing. Maybe you're just tuning into [[The Motorway]]'s dull moan.

The first navigable canal dug in London, 250 years ago. Linking the Lea to the Thames, and now the territory of joggers, weaving cyclists, and people looking for a peaceful cut through. Skirted by the shadow buildings of the industry it used to feed, which all eventually turned to face tarmac. A dividing line of three that cuts Teviot off from the land around it. This island in East London; [[the A12->The Motorway]] roars above. Head East, you hit [[DLR tracks->The DLR Station Again]].

Neither of them says anything, his name unspoken. *I'll take every single piece of the blame if you want me to But you know that there is no innocent one in this game for two* It just makes them think of the one minute silence they had at school. Aklima lays her head against Anisha's. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/05.png" align="right">He died right outside her house. There was blood on the floor. *Is it too late now to say sorry?* [[Walk on.->It's time to leave]]

Charlotte and her mates are climbing onto the roof of Balfron Tower. "Streets in the Sky" they called the huge Brutalist tower block. "It used to be a little square box, and I used to push, push through it and it used to open about this much and we all used to squeeze up. We used to play runouts, tag. We used to jump through the hole, and close it, so no-one could get through to come and get you. We had some [[good times]] over there."

Berni, Edith and Sandra are meeting the two Lorraines. Berni is tall, taller than any of the girls in her class, awkward, medium brown skin, natural hair pulled tight back, and thick glasses. Berni is running through the estate on one of those bone dry 80s summer days. Dusty grass blows across the road. She calls out as she sees them; Sharon, Nina, and [[Julie->some of the others.]]

"When I was 12 I spent the whole summer holiday visiting my friend John. One of the old houses on the Isle of Dogs - their front window was wire mesh, outside toilets, I'd go round to his house, we'd sit, [[smoke and play records]]. Occasionally we'd go to Greenwich Foot Tunnel, it used to go over to the Cutty Sark. That would be our excursion for the day. It's funny, I don't remember a lot, but I remember that" [[And now?->what can we see?]]

"I was born 1933, right?, So this year I’m 83. I was what school age in, 1939, the blitz. It was alright, I liked it. (he laughs) Here got bombed. Stepney Hill, bombed. We lived in a little tenement house, our toilet was up the yard, you had to take a candle with you." [[Someone else->someone else]]. [[Somewhere else->take a breath]].

These are all single mums. You know, those bogey men of society. But they're who [[holds society together->the glue]], round here. Gemma's little girl [[wasn't planned]], conceived in a 'friends with benefits' situation. But she's happy with that. He's [[a good dad]] and she doesn't want nor ask anything more of him. She's had two kids by him. Gemma knows herself.<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/Eastendgirls.png" align="right">

"I took four tests, I couldn’t believe it, I was like ‘I’m not, I’m not’ I just could not believe it. But, yeah, you wouldn’t change them for the world, even though they are little fuckers." (She laughs.) Gemma, one of the Teviot [[Mums->mums meet]].<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/Eastendgirls.png" align="right">

"I went ‘I’m keeping it, and it’s your choice to either be here or not be here. Even if you don’t want to be here with me, you can always see her, so that’s the choice that you’ve got to make now.'" She's had 2 kids with him. Doesn't want him to be anything more than a good dad. They don't live together. She's happy. Gemma, one of the Teviot [[Mums->mums meet]].

Black straightened hair pulled back into a ponytail, she chats loudly about the muscle-tensed facebook selfies she posted with her eldest last night. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/09.png" align="right"> The life and the heart, and the mother. Everyone knows Rachel. (click-replace: "Everyone knows Rachel")[ "I busy myself. I’m one of them people, you see me before you hear me, I make my presence known. Everybody knows when I’m about"] Everyone [[hears her.->East End girls

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/07.png" align="right">"Well a lot of them are dead here, a lot of ‘em died. You know, you get to my age, you only go to funerals. You only get invited to funerals! I’m frightened to pick the phone up, you know? Everytime I pick the phone up, someone’s dead. Someone’s telling me someone died." (He laughs.) [[Where were we?->It's time to leave]]

Azyadi and her family were refugees from the 1993 Somalian Civil war. They fled to Kenya, from Kenya to Holland, they were in Holland for quite a few years.<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/03.png" align="right"> She still has back ache from when she ran into the bathroom and climbed out of the window, leaving her baby son with her great aunt: “They wouldn’t rape my aunt, she was an [[old woman]],”

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/03.png" align="right">“I was young age at that time, 22, my husband was 10 years older, Ahmed, he was a very nice person, he treated me like I was his child, I didn’t know my mother, what I didn’t get from home, he gave to me”. Azyadi met him on her wedding day, he’d seen her photo. Her father asked if she would marry him and she said yes. She said “he took me places, he never went anywhere [[but with me]]”

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/03.png" align="right">She discovered her two sisters had survived and had made it to London. She described how tirelessly her husband worked to get her to them. They had two more children whilst in the camp in Holland. Eventually, she was reunited with her family. (click-append: "family.")[ {(live: 1s)[ (either: "Can you hear me?", "Are you there?", "Allah, hear me...", "Ahmed,")]} {(live: 10s)[ (either: "[[He...->Ahmed died]]")]}]

He [[died]].

Two days after [[reaching London]].

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/03.png" align="right">“When I lost my husband” she says, quietly and clear, “I lost all the world. I do what I can to forget him, but I can’t. The years pass, but nothing makes me happy.” “I would stop wars everywhere if I could. I can’t watch TV at the moment. Syria is worse, worse than what we went through. I would give people [[peace->Peace]], if I could.”

He knew he was ill. There was no way of getting help, he would never have spent the last of their money on going to [[hospital]]. They needed it to get to London.

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/03.png" align="right">They killed her though. Azyadi spoke this gently and [[clearly]].

"My mum had Emphysema, so I used to care for her when I was in secondary school but we wasn’t expecting her to die … we woke up one morning and she..."<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/milk.png" align="right"> "She was awake [[that morning]]."

"I used to sneak about in case she was asking me to do something, as you do. She was awake that morning, and then I went out to Chrisp Street and then when I went home, I couldn’t wake her up, she must of fell [[back to sleep]]."<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/milk.png" align="right">

"The funny thing is, before I went out, she looked dead. I know it sounds really silly, but before I went out she looked dead. My mum, she couldn’t breathe, she always slept in awkward [[positions]]". <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/milk.png" align="right">

Let's leave here. Somewhere quiet. [[The Canal]] seems about right. Or you could [[sit in the park->bench sitting]].

Kathy remembers her two when they were young. Oh they would fight. They still do. Probably cook their favourite tonight, pasta with chicken OXO and chicken balls. Has to be bows. The sound of [[starlings->my husband]] as we pass the park. The 309 trundles by, two girls in headscarves just miss it, they laugh, out of breath, and settle in the seat, pull out a mobile and sit with it, an earbud each, [[shuffling them music->Ajmol]].

Past overflowing bins, cut through onto the grass, you trace small round paving slabs, intricately cast. Glazed in bright colours, covered with intricate pictures of animals and insects. You reach Wyvis Street, just outside the Teviot Centre. You can [[go in->Teviot Centre]], see if Terri's got some tea going. Or [[walk on]].

The same but different. [[Let's think about these buildings]].

There are no big landmark buildings here, nothing for Teviot to hang an indentity off. Nothing like Goldfinger's Brutalist masterpiece, Balfron Tower, nor like Globe Town's welcome monolith. These buildings are quieter. Though driven by the same aims - providing people with a home, not as a privilege, but as a right. Good homes, to build communities built up of people of [[all means]].

In 1946 Aneurin Bevan, minister for health and housing, spoke in parliament against the way housing separates the rich and the poor. (link: "He said")['You have colonies of low income people, living in houses provided by the local authorities, and you have the higher income groups living in their own colonies. This segregation of the different income groups is a wholly evil thing. This segregation... is a monstrous infliction upon the essential psychological and biological one-ness of the community.'] He wanted to build estates that housed everyone. Where people met. Some of that work was started. But is increasingly dismantled by the long fingers of profit, of sell-off, of asset strip. Someone said something about that, [[didn't they?->posh people in there.]]

"We'd play Temperence Seven, Pasadena. Joe Brown and the Brothers, or Tommy Steel. He'd smoke Weights, I didn't like them, I used to smoke Senior Service, you could buy 2 for a penny. I think. I forget now. You'd go into a shop and buy 2 cigarettes, a packet was 5." [[Isn't memory funny->another person]]

Berni squints at the sky as they chatter. Someone has moved out of their house and they're on their way to see what treasures are left. She climbs through a broken window and catches her knee on a jagged piece of glass, it starts to bleed but it doesn't hurt much. Treading carefully over missing floorboards through the hallway, she opens the front door to let the others in. Tell me about [[Terry->another person]]. [[Let's walk->walk on]].

Rachel says, matter of fact: 'My nan's brother was a Sergeant at Brixton, he came here in the 1960’s when the West Indians come over... The way my dad brought us up made me a strong person, if I did wrong I got the belt. If it weren’t belt it was kettle wire.' (click-append: "wire.'")[ Charlotte chips in: 'I got the wooden spoon.'] (click-append: "spoon.'")[ Rachel nods. 'It made me the strong person I am today, and I’m glad for it.']

No one has a bad word for Terri. She plays Heart.fm on an Alda portable stereo, and makes sandwiches, fry-ups, and salads for anyone who wants them. She knows the kids who can't afford to eat. The people who come in smelling of drink, and looking like they haven't slept. And for those, she'll slip them a biscuit, a cup of tea, an apple. No charge. A [[small solidarity]].

<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/04.png" align="right">"I’m trying to get social services into court through solicitors for neglect, because when they place people in care they have a duty of care. Now, whilst I was in care I had broken arms, I had boiling milk thrown over me. None of it is in their records. I spoke to an MP in Rotherham and she said the same thing, they’ve got to be [[held accountable.]]"

A few would ask me who I was, others would ask their friends. Older members of the group would ignore me entirely, and not be at all bothered by whatever the rest of us did. I asked if I could display their writing as part of the project and they said 'yes' but only if they were under the name of the group as a whole. I use [['Mina']] here, as a stand in for all of those women. Her honey brown eyes catch the [[sun->little girl]].

Sometimes you will find places Sometimes people Sometimes I will talk to you Sometimes they will There are fragments And paths. Not one story, but a place, scratched out by the marks of lives lived [[Begin->Start]]

I ask him where he would say he's from and his answer is immediate and without hesitation.<img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/10.png" align="right"> His wife is training as a dentist, he looks after the children. Here it is cold, and it's hard to find anything in common with non-Kuwaitis. The best part of his day is playing with his daughters after school. They will move home as soon as his wife has her qualifications. He misses the sun. (click: "sun.")[Suddenly there is a [[gale of noise->Manorfield Playground]]. Ammar looks up, apologises, moves on.]

Charlotte and her best friend lay on the roof of one of the world's famous pieces of social housing architecture and they draw in the sky with their fingers. [[Show me another memory->Herbert]] [[Take a breath->take a breath]]

"I remember standing at the top of the stairs, I’m looking and I’m thinking “yeah, her chest is moving, she’s alright, I’ll go to the shop and I’ll come back”." "I said to my next door neighbour, my mums best friend, “my mum looks dead” and she went “oh don’t be silly, she’s probably asleep”. <img src="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/695407/teviot/milk.png" align="right"> "When I come home, I couldn’t wake her up." [[Close your eyes]].

The day is cold, but not harsh. Something catches the corner of your eye, a [[flash of pink->day is cold]].

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Thank you for reading. (live: 4s)[ (either:"[[Credits]]")]

**Teviot Tales** was written and designed by **Hannah Nicklin**, with artwork by **Michael Parkin**. It is based on a part-time 8 month residency on the **Teviot Estate**, in East London. You can **read more** about <a href="http://poplarpeople.co.uk/residency">the project, here.</a> Including press info/resources, links to partners, and a beginners guide to making your own Twine Game. The residency was designed by Hannah, and involved a variety of methods of working with local residents to gather and tell stories. All of the stories and characters are **'true stories'** and vertbatim quotes with the exception of 'Mina' - who (the game explains) is a character drawn to represent a particular group of women (at their request). Thanks should obviously go to every resident and visitor to the estate who took the time to talk to Hannah. Also to volunteer **Rachel Haytor**, and **Victoria Coakley** who helped Hannah connect with Teviot community groups. The Residency was part of a series across England set up by the **Social Housing Arts Network**, supported by **Arts Council England**. This particular residency was in partnership with **Poplar Harca**. Thank you for reading. ~ <a href="http://twitter.com/hannahnicklin">@hannahnicklin</a>