Wednesday, June 19, 2013

What's in a name?

About half of the houses in our hamlet are named. At least, their names are written on them in a script made of twisted iron. I think that the names had their origin in the days before the houses were numbered. Among the names here are La Ruine (The Ruin), Bella Vista (Italian for Beautiful View), Les Bouleaux (The Birches), and La Grange (The Barn).

This is one of our neighbors. It's a vacation house that's used maybe two weeks out of the year.

Our house is the one named Les Bouleaux. Mail sometimes comes addressed that way, without the house number. Mail is also delivered if it only has our name with the hamlet's name on it, as long as town name and the postal code are correct.

8 comments:

  1. Interesting about the house names. I hope you don't need the tarps and buckets.

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  2. I see under the photo that the people use their holiday home only 2 weeks a year. Seems to be a very expensive holiday. Still, it is a very lovely part of the world.

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  3. In France, Posties are still Posties!! Especially in rural communities...
    UK, as far as I know, they are still only real Posties where they also run the Post Bus scheme...
    then they meet and know their community.

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  4. Uh oh. Now you'll be inundated with mail addressed to WCS: Les Bouleaux. :)

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  5. I love this custom. Oddly, here in modern Fuengirola the buildings and homes are named as well. When we take a taxi home or schedule a delivery, they always want the building name ("Edificio Flamenco" for example). The number just doesn't cut it.

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  6. that quaint custom would never work in this country!

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  7. Our mairie has just issued the houses in the little hamlets with house numbers. The idea is that people use the numbers in correspondence instead of the names which in some cases have been in use for hundreds of years. I'm sure this modern nonsense won't come to anything...

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  8. I like the notion of naming a home, yes, a good idea. I am fond of' "Kootznowoo" but Someone doesn't care for it.

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