I have uploaded " google maps" on the old ipad recently and have enjoyed flitting around the globe taking snapshot views of various places of interest at random......the activity reminds me of the times I used to go to the reference library in Prestatyn as a boy......I would pick a heavy encyclopedia and open a page at random...........learning something completely new would be a real and delightful treat.
Now Google Maps has a gadget that can drop a pin . The pin literally " pinpoints" a place on the map, a place that you can zoom in on , and bingo.....you are looking at a place you have never seen before.......it's the map equivalent of picking an unknown page in that reference book.
A few days ago I closed my eyes and dropped the map pin on the globe......out of all the places it could fall, it managed to fall on a small town in Virginia by the name of Pennington Gap.
Now, perhaps it's just me, but I have been ever slightly obsessed with Pennington Gap ever since.
I have gone on street view and have taken a drive through the town. I have looked in the shop windows, tried ( and failed) to see what was playing in the local cinema and got a sense of the place's slightly run down feel.....it reminds me of a slightly faded Welsh town, surrounded by hills, cut off from the rest of the world....
Am I alone in playing this slightly asperger game with myself? Perhaps I am , but
I would love it if someone from the Pennington will read this ( via google) and leave me a comment!... My obsession would have come full circle.....
Another idle internet obsession I have is YouTube
I especially love to indulge in the emotional romp that is the work of the incredible odd sounding Eldad Hagar . Eldad is an amateur dog rescuer, who collects strays around Los Angeles, and he employs a gentle and incredibly effective method of gaining the dogs' trust before capture. Of course the videos have the ability to melt the heart of even the most cynical of nasty bastards, after all they are designed to raise money for the local animal shelter, but after a hard day, they do have the ability to lift one's spirits, albeit through a veil of tears.....and make you appreciate the good things in life.
Enjoy this video and I bet you shed a few when you see little Monty sat safely on that car seat.........
I too enjoy using Google maps and street view to explore places I have never been before. It also comes in handy for looking at places I am going before I go there, helps me find landmarks and hotel entrances.
ReplyDeleteI do that too…it is very helpful.
DeleteMy youngest son is very fond of viewing the world through google maps.
ReplyDeleteHe certainly has a wonderful way of winning the trust of those frightened little creatures.
ReplyDeleteOMG! My keyboard is wet through!
ReplyDeleteThey were all relatively small dogs, I expected there to be huge dobermans or similar!
I'd have loved them all! That's just what they needed , love,warmth and company.
i am going to have to check out google maps! it's funny that you landed in an area which was probably settled by some welsh! that video is so sweet.
ReplyDeleteWe do the same thing with Godgle Earth.
ReplyDeleteYou can get the satellite view of where we live but no street views...I guess nothing is that interesting here.
ReplyDeleteJane x
I love doing this... Don't know that I'd be all that thrilled to be randomly landed in Kentucky, but that's just me. I'll be curious to see if you find anyone from Pennington Gap. Will have to check out the video and the water works later. Having audio problems on my computer.
ReplyDeleteI think it is a bit weird the way you can peek into shop windows etc through Google Maps.......it reminds me of stalkers? Just saying.
ReplyDeleteI've spent many an hour watching Eldad's videos on you tube. Heart breaking and heart warming in one, and they always make me so ashamed of what human beings do to animals.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, the power of the internet John. Morning AJ put a photograph on her blog the other day and I recognised it as somewhere I used to canoe forty five years ago and haven't been back since. Hope you get somebody to answer from Pennington Gap.
ReplyDeleteMy" introduction" to Eldad was through this video, which broke my heart. What a GREAT guy. The world needs more of him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xg2G_oINqc,
ReplyDeleteI enjoy google maps so much fun. I hope you do get a reply from Pennington Gap.
ReplyDeleteI can't watch the rescue videos (I did watch yours) because they rip my heart out over what humans do to animals.
cheers, parsnip
Unfortunately, not from Pennington Gap but Arlington, VA (about 7 hours NE) on the opposite side of the state. Hopefully, you will get someone closer to PG to respond. I was raised is a slightly sad town in southern Ohio so I know what you "felt" when reading about the town. I was not surprised to learn that there is a penitentiary near PG supporting the local economy. A lot of our prisons are in rural areas.
ReplyDeleteRemind me to not give you my actual address.
ReplyDeleteI hate, with a vengeance, anything that reminds me of other people's and animals' misfortune. If I want to jerk tears out of my blocked ducts I am perfectly able to walk round town by myself and witness utter shite. Don't get me started or I'll give you my last fifty pence.
Just learnt - via that most dismal forecast - that up your way winds will be blowing. Hope you have laid in supplies. Down here only taxis will make a killing.
Hugs and hisses, best to mainly Albert, but also Winifred, Mary, the rest of your wildlife, you, and if need be - Chris.
U
There's a Pennington near us but not that one !
ReplyDeleteSuch gentle rescuers x
John, Eldad Hagar will go all over the country to do get hard to rescue
ReplyDeletepets, he is from Israel and last year he did a rescue mission of a colony of cats and even a donkey in israel while visiting his parents.
i have been following for many years. He has a large presence on facebook and also gives instructions on how to best capture a pet without getting injured or injuring the pet.
I recently started reading a book…." Trust your Eyes" by Linwood Barclay . It is about a young man who has a form of Aspergers I think it is, and he spends his days trawling through Google street view, memorising everything, so that when the US maps are all destroyed in a catastrophe of some sort, he will be able to help! I have only read just less than half so far, so not sure how it pans out…..he thinks he witnessed a murder as he saw a head in a window with a plastic bag over it…..you might like it! I often use street view to find out where we need to go, or look up where someone lives…it's good fun.
ReplyDeletemonty needs to come and live with me.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely man
Proves that there are decent and kind people out there, John. As for Google street view, I accidentally found that Labartere had been 'done'. Was quite chuffed!
ReplyDeleteI'm turning into such a softy....
ReplyDeleteEldad does great work.
I wonder how many other readers of your blog have, like me, taken to street view for a tour of Trelawnyd. Oh yes, I love playing that game, I love to learn new things and use it for looking for the houses on Grand Designs among other crazy :)
ReplyDeleteOooooh! John, you have stalkers!!!!! :) (Not that I have ever googled Trelawnyd... er, maybe...
DeleteIn Canada, Pennington's is a store for fat ladies. Not surprisingly, I call it The Fat Ladies Store.
ReplyDeleteI think it's kind of adorable that you are obsessed with Pennington Gap. I hope someone contacts you - that would be SO COOL.
I can't watch that doggie video right now - in the midst of making soup and I know darned well I'd be weeping two minutes in and the soup would burn dry and I might lose an ounce or two and thus be worried if I would still fit into clothes at Pennington's...
Why....I thought I was the only one looking up places on Google Earth/Google Maps. Just too interesting not to do it.
ReplyDeleteI can't watch the video. I'm sorry. I've seen so many rescue stories lately that I can't take anymore. Although I adopt dogs, I don't think I'm up to going out to rescue animals. That takes a very brave and kind person, just like you, John.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I look at the odd time when I have signal. I like to look at famous structures... don't ask me why.
ReplyDeleteNo reply from Pennington Gap. :- ( John, you did focus on a town that has internet, didn't you?
ReplyDeleteLucky dogs to find someone that cared. He does an amazing job doesn't he,such patience. He reminds me a bit of you ... willing to go that extra mile for an animal that needs help :-)
ReplyDeleteNeglected children and animals touch the heart. There are patient, compassionate people who tend to both. There are never enough people to meet the need but we are blessed to know many like yourself.
ReplyDeleteHave you Google-mapped yourself? There you are tending your flock with George looking intently at the camera. It's MrsC's fault - she put the idea in my head! :)
ReplyDeleteAlthough always an outdated view, I find Google maps to be fascinating. I could spend hours, if I had them, globe trotting.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of googling something.. I found my cousin's house in Georgia...IT's really cool~!
ReplyDeleteWatched the video of the man and woman rescuing dogs.. Oh that was so sweet.. Why do people abandoned their dogs...and cats don't get it~! Have a great day...ta ta for now from Iowa:)
Stumbled upon your blog. Iv lived in Pennington Gap, Va off and on for almost 30 years. It is a quiet little town where you can lead a quiet little life. Your observation of kind of run down is rather accurate but its not for a lack of passion. Unfortunately those who make the decisions for the Town of Pennington Gap and the County Of Lee in general are kind of stuck in the good ol' boy mode. To many people living in 2014 but stuck in the 1950's. Due to archaic laws many business have came to our town then closed down, or were unable to open in the first place (Applebees for instance wanted to open in Pennington but as Liquor isnt allowed to be sold they went to Wise county instead). But local bureaucracy aside, there are much worse places that we could live.
ReplyDeleteWayyyyy!
DeleteThank you for commenting!
I suspect pennington gap is very much like the welsh small towns that I know well....which is funny because I wonder if there were many welsh settlers around the coal mining areas of Virginia
Thank you for replying
It was sweet of you
Best wishes
John
I ha e lived in Pennington my whole life other than a few months in other places. I think its pretty cool that someone so far away found our town. I thought we were hidden from the rest of the world. :)
ReplyDelete