Until two years ago, houses in Maria Alm were addressed as Dorf (meaning Village) and numbered 1 - 215, the newer the house the greater the number. Absolute chaos navigationally. Most of the houses here are built up around an old farm - extended family members build on nearby plots and small hamlets develop. For navigation purposes, everywhere was described in relation to the farms. Caspar is currently learning, as countless generations of school children before him have done, the Maria Alm equivalent of the London cabbies 'knowledge'. He must know, off by heart, the name, location and family owners of about 30 farms. Now that the village has been conventionally readdressed with street names and house numbers, perhaps it's time the school readdressed the need for such a learning exercise.
