Look me up sometime...

What you lookin' at?

Evening all!
Hope you have all had a lovely weekend, relaxing indoors perhaps, safe in the knowledge that you go about your business without prying eyes paying attention to your every move?  Yes?
Well I'm sorry, but I'm going to spoil it for you.
Don't get me wrong, I've had a lovely weekend visiting friends out on the commuter belt and, prior to that, enjoyed a night out with the girlies in London.  But what I have learnt during these jollies has left me disturbed.  You see, what I have learnt is about cyber-stalking - and how scarily easy it is.
Take scenario number one.  Girl goes to an open mic night.  Girl sees boy and decides she quite likes him, but can't quite muster the courage to begin a conversation.  However, her interest surpasses her shyness and she "friends" him on facebook, looks up where his next gig is - and drags me along (after I've looked him up online myself, of course!).  Girl again couldn't bring herself to talk to the said young man, but has sent him an innocent query via the medium of social media about his work
And then there's scenario number two.  Girl visits wildlife hospital with mates.  Girl comments of attractiveness of male giving a talk about, let's say, hedgehogs.  Later that evening, after a couple of glasses of wine, girl and mates, armed with his first name, place of work and home town (more fool him for disclosing this during talk about his prickly friends) are able to locate him on Twitter, facebook and You Tube.  Girl promptly follows boy, but will be unfollowing him before posting this blog (for obvious reasons).  Besides, his girlfriend looks really nice, and is only 20...

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Stalking fuel...

Finally scenario number three - girl and mates then start googling each other and their other mates.  Girl is relieved to find nothing too incriminating about herself (well, under her real name anyway) - apart from an email sent for her day job that has been released under the Freedom of Information Act - eeek!  Luckily it was very short and did not include any bad jokes, but STILL!  Another mate came up a little worse for wear, with names of siblings, ex wives and financial situation being easily accessible.  Yikes...
So... the moral of the story?  Look yourself up - and get yourself removed from any sites you don't want to be named on.  Oh, and if you want to find out the relationship status of "Dave" who works at your local, message my mate Jules - damn that girl is good!
Oh, and if all that stalking makes you hungry, go eat pizza.  I recommend my mate Phil's creations but, if you don't fancy a trip to Bucks and live in London,, check out Operation:Pizza - new blog posted on Friday.  
Of course if you do fancy Phil's Parma Ham Special, just look him up online - I'm sure you can find him...

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