The diversity in places of modern living is large enough but the description of your address has a mind numbing array of choices.

Road, Street or Avenue? Okay, that’s the easy ones. Street types, learners level. What about wynd, tor, tarn or circus? We have jumped to Masters level now. Having been asked to provide my address recently on a web site, after the type e.g apartment, lot, unit and the like and then the number I had to say my street type. Have a guess as to how many options were provided, presumably offered as they existed somewhere in the postal system. I have simplified things slightly to eliminate variations on the one theme e.g. Street West, Street East, Street North. The answer, one hundred and seventeen.

One hundred and seventeen street types! I can hear the cacophony of laughter at the annual conference of urban planners. “ Hey Johnny, how about this one?……..amble! Haw haw.”. Maybe they have competitions to make the absurd a reality and attain urban planning notoriety, a testament for all time etched on a map.

Two street types do not exist in the English language, well not in the Oxford dictionary. A Corso? A Grovet? Maybe it is a little grove. A grove is a small stand of trees, so perhaps it is one tree?

So if you feel aggrieved you live on a road or drive, spare a thought for those that live on a brae, a bend, a bowl, a brook, a chase, a dale, an edge, an elbow, a glen, a grange, a haven, a mead, a meander, a ramble, a reach or indeed a wynd, a narrow street or alley. One no doubt the wind does blow up.