Rhoadapple
I traveled to Mazatlan, Mexico to serve as translator for a church group which came down from the US. Among the group was a single lady from the UK. She was about my mother's age. I would usually have breakfast with her and found her interesting.
She was a refined, dignified woman. She spoke and carried herself with an atmosphere that gave the idea that this was a woman of significant social stature.
One day I made the near fatal mistake of using the words American and culture in the same sentence. This polite Christian lady nearly went into hysterics. I was stunned. I guess that is something you do not say to our British friends.
When our time in Mazatlan was done, I got her address. She lived in a certain town or city. The address was Rhoadapple or some such thing. This would be the street name in the United States. There was no house number, however, just this single-word street name. I said nothing but thought, This is either a very small town or a very large house.
Different Story
A few years later I was supposed to meet a man in Miami, Florida. I had never met him before but a mutual friend arranged for me to go to Cuba with him. Miami is a big airport so I wondered how I would find him. I saw a man walking toward me wearing a parka, in Miami. That must be him, I thought. He immediately seemed somewhat frail. I learned he was 76 years old. We greeted each other. Then he told me that we needed to wait for another man who decided to come also at the last minute. This man was 88 years old. I was the child in this group.
In talking with the older man, I learned that he was from the UK. Upon receiving his business card I noticed that he had one of those one-word addresses (Wilshire or something similar) like the British lady I had met in Mexico. I could not resist. I had to ask him about this unusual (to me) practice of having a street name but with no house number. How could they ever get mail delivered to their house?
I said, “I see you have a street address but with no house number. This must be a small town or else a big house.”
His reply was something I cannot ever forget: “I have 32 bedrooms.”
OK. That would do it.
Dec. 2, 2023