What is Your Address?

 

"What is Your Address?"

I’ve been asked this a lot recently; by friends, by banks, by gov. officials, by schools, my colleagues etc……

This seems a fairly simple question, but, is it? I’ve been reflecting on this….

·     What if the address doesn’t fit nicely in the pre-set, homogenous address fields?

·      What if one lives off-grid?

·       What if one has no street number or if one doesn’t even live on a road? Do GPS co-ordinates count?

·         How does one communicate the address? In-person or electronically?

·         What if there is a COVID-lockdown?

·         What if a big storm has impacted the area and one has no telecoms?  What if it has rained for days and the solar batteries don’t have indefinite reserves?  Does one turn on a light or a device to save power? Does one light a candle to be able to use a device?

Why do people ask for one’s address?

·         Do they have a company client profile with fields they need to populate?

·         Do they want to sell me something?

·         Do they want to communicate something that is relevant to me?

·         Do they value our friendship and want to share their lives with me?

·         Do they care about my well-being?

·         Do they want to sponge off me?

·         Do they know it is a privilege to receive my address?

     Does an address denote an home? A sense of Place? Some addresses don’t come easily or simply! Mine hasn’t!

So, what is my address?…I like to tell folks on the track that it is the first house after the waterfall!

~Debbie

Feel free to share your comments below.


Comments

Caronova said…
Haere mai! Welcome again to this wonderful little corner of the world. It's bizarre that, in a country where rural life is the norm for so many, that the system isn't better set up for non-street addresses! This entry also makes me think of Bill Bryson's hilarious advice on directions, given in 'Notes on a Small Island' - his book about Britain. Very different landscape but similar use of natural/non-standard features to guide the house-seeker (think 'first turn past the postbox, then look for the second hedge on the right...' etc.). I think 'first house after the waterfall' is a marvellous address!
Thanks Caroline! (and may I introduce readers to my Kiwi cousin) :)
Unknown said…
Debbie, thanks for lifting the Google restriction! I admire your adventurous spirit and new lifestyle. I anxiously await your updates and glad O can now read them. We miss you all! Pam
Thanks Pam! It certainly is an adventure!

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