A Daily Thing

There have been many things to adapt to for me since moving from France to Australia, and this is the beginning of an attempt to explain.

Christian says the concept of ‘bis’ puzzles him. Even after having lived in an 11th arrondissement Parisian apartment located at number 30 bis.

I don’t think I can explain because for me it’s one of these things you accept exist and never question: two houses or buildings have the same street number and the second one is ‘bis’ so as not to be confused with the first one. It’s not a weird urban planning concept, a strange way to divide land lots (all Christian’s chain of reasoning and probably valid points), it just is.

And it makes for pretty signs mixing numbers with letters.

This one is from a house in Albert Park and I always slow down to look if I’m driving past, or clap my hands and go ‘French number French number’ when Christian is driving.  It doesn’t get old for me (for him, probably).