To say Thank You to Google, for Street View.

[shoshe]

60 years ago, my parents met and married in Singapore, whilst in the RAF, we as a Family subsequently went back on 4 more 3 year tours there with the RAF.

Mom and Dad buried one son there, and his remains were moved after we left, lived in various houses, and always said they spent the best years of their lives there.

Sadly Mom, died 18 years ago, and Dad is now 82, and could never fly that far , although
DH and I went back in 2001 on honeymoon.

Yesterday I sat with Dad and we explored Singapore again by Street View, we went to all the places that he went with Mum, (well all that were still there, Singapore has changed a great deal), but there was still enough for him to see. We went to Kranji, to were my brothers remains were re interred, and to Tiger Balm Gardens were they got engaged, and to the Church in Changi, were they married.

We went to Montreal Rd and found the house we lived in the longest, and could see the Palm Tree he had planted, when lightening hit the one that was there before, the gate Dad put up, to stop my little brothers getting out on the road, and the window boxes he had made, which was wonderful considering we left that ouse to return to England in February 1972!

It made a old man, who gets out very little, so very very happy, so for all the negative things I have heard about Street View,

Thank You so much Google.

[lostinwales]

That's lush.

My boys and I love going for a wander round different parts of the world of an evening. For boys who have always lived in a small community it's great for them to see so much difference out there.

[GypsyMoth]

awww brilliant!!

i'm a hige fan of street view...wish they did more countries. i sit on it at night and visit random places.

i love ireland!
the netherlands....great gardens
was in prague last night
isle of wight....very pretty
french country lanes....have odd random items in them

[southeastastra]

aw that is so lovely! i did the same with my dad (80) though we only went to his old haunts in west london

[RunforFun]

Wow what a lovely thing for your father and you to have revisited.

I'm sure its brought back some very happy memories.

[FreakoidOrganisoid]

How lovely

[shoshe]

It was so brilliant, I am taking him to see his brother in the next few weeks and am going to take my netbook and dongle, and take them round the village they grew up in

For elders of their age, who cant get out, it is a way back to their memories.

Dad is 82 btw, and short term memory not so good, long term is great.

[honeydragon]

wonderful - brought tears to my eyes reading your thread

[bluebump]

Agreed. My dad and I had a look on street view at where he used to live in London and where he went to school etc. Also we looked up where his brother is living in New York and his uncle in Australia, it was great! It made his day!

[dorisbonkers]

That's a nice story. I used to live there and visited Tiger Balm gardens -- utterly bonkers and a bit creepy.

[dorisbonkers]

Wanted to add, there's a really sweet film about Singapore from the 70s, called Saint Jack, about a ducker and diver and the opening shot shows Singapore with the harbour with only one tall building (actually where my DH worked when we were out there) and its all trees and knackered old boats -- none of the reclaimed land or skyscrapers.

My Grandfather was stationed out there in the war in a girl's catholica school which is now a bar and restaurant complex. When I told him I got a job out there he told me to arrange a 'dobi' (washerman). Erm, things have moved on a bit, Gramps.

I had my little girl there and will love to take her back when she's older (no other reason, it's really boring as a holiday spot!)

[Hulababy]

How wonderful!

We love street view here - 8y DD spends ages exploring places.

[maxybrown]

awww that's lovely. When I first found it, I had to look around behind me to check no one was wondering why I was stoood outside their house - even though actually I was in my living room

I didn't know you could go to other countries - DH will maybe be able to show me where he lived in Ireland fab!

[tibni]

That is fantastic.

Another house of street view fans. ds (ASD, severe learning difficulties) can navigate around on street view - showing us he knows the way to so many places and peoples houses - some over 40 miles away.

He now knows all the families postcodes and spends many a happy hour on street view.

[southeastastra]

walking down a bog standard road in, say, japan is quite entertaining

[exexpat]

I love going for virtual walks around other places around the world where I used to live, specially in the deep, dark, damp months of the English winter. It does make me want to rush out and book a ticket back to Sydney though...

[Fluffyone]

That's really lovely, really made me smile. I lived in Singapore in the 60's and remember Tiger Balm Gardens well, it was a favourite trip out for us kids. I also loved having pancakes at Raffles. We used to go to a night-time market near Seletar camp, I think on Friday night... was the road Jalan Selaseh (sp?). Anyway, it was a great place to do a bit of bargaining and spend pocket money.
You've really brought back some memories, thanks.

[bumpybecky]

aww I'm crying now! that's so lovely Shoshe

[FabIsGoingToGetFit]

That is such a lovely story.

I was just trying to fins a house but can't remember any of the address other than the town .

[Gigantaur]

oh that is such a lovely post Shoshe.

[WellMeantHellBent]

That is sweet, we 'walked' to school yesterday and DS loved it, I may have told him he was controlling a robot with a video camera to make it more exciting for him though|!

[whoopstheregoesmymerkin]

that is beautiful and made me cry

[BudaisintheZONE]

How amazing!

[nickelbabe]

that is a fabulous story.

[maltesers]

Sounds like a fab idea.
We lived in Singapore when i was a child (5 yrs old) and my Dad is now 82. He too would be very interested to see in google the street there. I will tell him.