Google Street Map

Have you seen Google's new street maps? They were launched last week amid some controversy, from people complaining that they provide a prime opportunity for burglars to 'case the joint' from afar (I don't understand why, given that you can't see anything you wouldn't see driving past anyway); or people moaning that it's an invasion of their privacy (despite the fact that any people captured by the Google video have their faces blurred out, as are number plates on cars.

Me, I think it's a brilliant idea. I spent far too many hours last week looking up all sorts of addresses. I was delighted to find that, when I went looking at my Mum's and sister's houses (they live just a few doors apart), I could see my Dad in my sister's front garden (sweeping up - so very typical of my Dad), and my sister stood in her doorway. And then at my other sister's house, her hubby also in the front garden.

I went for a nosey at the house we lived in when I was growing up. It was familiar yet alien at the same time, and it made me sad. I loved that house, and I was really upset when Mum and Dad moved (though of course it made sense, two people rattling around in a huge five bedroomed house would be pointless). So although it was 'our' house, it was just weird seeing it now belonging to someone else.

My next stop was my Grandma's old house. I have no idea how many times it has changed hands since it was sold when she died in 1984, but I definitely didn't like what I saw. It was totally unrecognisable. Of course I didn't really expect to see it looking exactly the same, but it's hard to understand that people buy houses and then change things to suit themselves, without any thought or sentimentality for how things were. My next stop after that was the house where my Grandma had grown up. This really didn't seem too different in appearance from pictures I have seen, although the wonderful windows had gone to be replaced with upvc double glazed ones, which make the house look far less imposing.

I also had a look at the house where my Great Grandparents had lived, and other addresses that relate to our family history. Google maps is a good thing. Without it, I would have to physically go and see these places, which would take time and money. Thank God for modern technology!