having trouble with the Mairie

[nomoss]

[quote user="Loiseau"]QUOTE Nomoss

...I don't know what on earth to tell friends what to write for "111". Printed postcodes don't seem to be a problem....

END QUOTE

I would get them to add the name of the département, in the old-fashioned way!

I remember now that for all my official French stuff coming to my English address, I eventually made sure it would include the name of my London borough just to help in the case of fractured postcodes.[/quote]

Yes, you would think that would help, but the name of the department was written on the envelope. I think that only the post code matters.

[nomoss]

[quote user="idun"]

For '1's, I always write as '1' or slightly differently like on this display

So the little jaunty angle at the top and a line below......... too late at night to think of the proper terms, but that is what I always do, so as not to confuse anyone. It is a 'classic' '1'[:)]

[/quote]

Great idea Idun - write the post code in Morse Code[:D]

I think they are serifs.

[idun]

Or, IF France has hit the modern world like say Mongolia, they could use 'what three words' for something to get there.

What Three Words is great, and very precise.

ps I don't know what a serif is, so that wouldn't have been a word I could possibly have used to describe and frankly in the clear light of a New Year's Day, cannot think of a better description than I gave![Www] But sometimes I hope that in my little brain something better 'might' be there, I just cannot quite find it[;-)]

[woolybanana]

Serif is a kind of angel, doudoune!?

[idun]

Really, or are you pulling my leg[8-)]

Now if you had said angle, I would have thought that that makes sense.

But there again, it does look rather like a down facing one sided angel's wing........ so wooly, are you taquine'ing me, that is the question?[Www]

[woolybanana]

Dear quilt, would I dare? Well, perhaps just a little, within a couple of letters!

A seraph is a type of celestial or heavenly being originating in Ancient Judaism. The term plays a role in subsequent Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The singular "seraph" is a back-formation from the Hebrew plural-form "seraphim", whereas in Hebrew the singular is "saraph".

[BritinBretagne]

France does use what three words but just not for delivery addresses. It has a perfectly good system already.

[idun]

When living in France, I would not have dreamt to have done other than the french, but not everyone would 'know' what the french do, ie my parents or parents in law other family members and a multitude of friends,  would write numbers  as they always have and I believed that a letter/parcel should arrive.

And isn't that what was being said, that 1's and 7's without the 'french touch' to them are being misinterpreted. And that really is inexcusable and lazy as  keyboards have 7's as in the way it is written in english and a 'I' well, it should not be beyond someone's imagination that it is a one, and not a letter, or a 7 does not always have a line through it.

What Three Words could be of use in France, how many times have we heard, on here, no less, of people living en campagne not getting their deliveries because the delivery person could not find their address.

[nomoss]

Even though we live on the main road through our town, and only 700 metres from its centre, occasionally delivery drivers seem unable to find us, or report that we were not in when in fact we were.

Consequently I try to arrange delivery to a relay point if this option is offered by a seller.

All has gone well with that until dealing recently with a company which offers "DPD Pickup" as their courier delivery option.

Earlier in the year I was surprised to see "Votre colis n'a pu être livré " on the DPD tracking link. I went to the shop, to find it closed, within the published opening hours, also shown on the door.

The tracking indicated it had been delivered a few days later, and on going to the shop I was told the owner had not been well.

Putting that experience down as a one-off, On Dec 19 I chose the same option for "delivery in time for Christmas" for some items from the same supplier.

DPD took charge of the package on Dec 22, but on Dec 24 the tracking said "Votre colis n'a pu être livré", so went to the shop to find it closed, but the lights on.

On returning home I saw "La livraison du colis est reportée au prochain jour ouvré suite à la fermeture hebdomadaire du lieu de livraison", although the shop does not show any weekly closing on their hours.

On Dec 27 I got "Votre colis est en cours d'acheminement" again, and later "

La livraison du colis est reportée suite aux congés du lieu de livraison "

So two weeks tomorrow and still no news. I'll just have to stay clear of DPD in future, as their nearest other relay point is 30 km away.