I live *inside* a block! The area of south-east London where I live was laid out for residential use between the wars. It wasn't exactly a proper grid, but where I live now was what could be described as a block. It was a Ministry of Defence site (I've no idea what it was there for). In the late 80s, it was pulled down and about 70 houses built over the site. The developers made 3 "closes" (dead-end roads) that each wound their way into the block from one of the 4 surrounding roads.
But they also built houses on the edges of the site, facing onto three of the surrounding roads. This caused a problem for the numbering on those roads - in the 30s, they hadn't had the foresight to allow for extra houses (like Tamara's numbering scheme). So they borrowed numbers from the existing houses on the other side of the road. Each alternate existing house was given the same number as its neighbour, but with an "a" after it (eg 31a) and its number given to the new house opposite (eg 32). I bet this didn't go down well with the residents, since a number like 31a suggests you're a flat in a house, rather than a whole house. Come to think of it, I don't think many of us like our street name, Bill Hamling Close; it was named after a local Labour MP in the 70s. It makes it sound like a road on a council estate, even though it's actually a private development <g> (Why not "Hamling Close", for goodness sake??) Why on earth they did this, I don't know. Maybe it was some kind of deal with the local Labour council to allow the developers to build houses here. One of the other new roads was also named after a local luminary, Margaret Gardener Drive. But, get this, the third new road was named Ministry Way, which sounds much posher. Why? Because that road is where they built the larger, smarter houses! I'm gob-smacked by all these numbering systems. Does anyone know when the standard British system of numbering with odd numbers along one side of the road and even numbers down the other came into being? The older streets in the heart of London use an older system, where the buildings are numbered consecutively down one side, and then back up the other. It makes finding your way around central London a nightmare, since you can never be sure which numbering scheme is in use in any particular street. Regards, Annette, London To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
