Be careful what you Google

I never Google myself. And no, that's not a euphemism for masturbating. Googling yourself is generally borne of vanity and for that reason alone, those who do check out their internet footprints deserve to come a cropper. I don't like the idea of seeing the stuff that I do know is out there on the internet: old job profiles, angry forum comments, generally embarrassing stuff that I'd rather wasn't in existence anymore. But I'm certain that somebody like me, ie me, has crossed more than a few people who consequently rant on about me on the internet. Maybe I flatter myself.

Anyway, :@), for some reason last week, I decided to see if I could check out what was going on with people from my not too distant past. Nothing malicious intended, just purely out of curiosity. I happened to search for Marie, one of the few people who didn't drive me up the fucking wall at Base 2a when I worked at the falling apart hospital in Cheshire. I came across her obituary. This was Marie. She'd gone from being a relatively healthy 59 year old in July 2007, to being an obituary in August 2010. It shocked me.

Had I not undertaken my little espionage mission, I'd have thought of Marie on increasingly rare occasions and put her back in that box. Now I know she died, probably of cancer, in a hospice and left behind a grieving family. I wish I hadn't done it now.

Be careful what you Google.