At a recent CivicCamp talk to a packed house, City of Calgary General Manager of Planning Rollin Stanley made some controversial comments about how Calgary subdivisions have rather... unlikely names. (I have to say, I couldn't agree more. I always have to roll my eyes when I drive along Coventry Hills' "Country Village Way" - a wide, paved road through a big-box store shopping development - as little like a country village way as anything you could imagine.) But that's not the reason I mention this. It's just because, a few days after listening to the talk, I happened to pick up an Agatha Christie novel ("The Big Four" - not one of her best, I'm afraid) - and read this:
"A few moments more saw us ascending the steps of The Laurels, as Mr. Ingles' residence was called. Personally, I did not notice a laurel bush of any kind, so deduced that it had been named according to the usual obscure nomenclature of the suburbs."
This book was published in 1927. Mr. Stanley, Agatha Christie saw it coming, and she was on your side.
Here's the talk, by the way...
"A few moments more saw us ascending the steps of The Laurels, as Mr. Ingles' residence was called. Personally, I did not notice a laurel bush of any kind, so deduced that it had been named according to the usual obscure nomenclature of the suburbs."
This book was published in 1927. Mr. Stanley, Agatha Christie saw it coming, and she was on your side.
Here's the talk, by the way...
And here's a map.
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