Mother discovers her late grandfather who died aged 84 has been immortalised on Google Street View
- Michala Burrluck, 43, ‘visits’ her grandfather on Google Street View each year
- She looks at his bungalow on the site where he’s seen with his hands on his hips
- She was devastated when Victor Austin passed away from Alzheimer’s aged 84
- Ms Burrluck, from Eccles, Kent, shared the sweet tradition on Facebook
A mother discovered her late grandfather, who died aged 84, had been immortalised by Google Street View.
Michala Burrluck, 43, said she copes with her grandfather’s death by looking at his bungalow on the website – where he can be seen staring ‘angrily’ at the firm’s photo car for driving down his street.
Ms Burrluck, from Eccles, Kent, was devastated when Victor Austin passed away from Alzheimer’s in 2014.
Grieving for her beloved grandfather, Michala decided to take a trip down memory lane and look up his house, just one street over from where she grew up.
The mum-of-two was delighted when she spotted him, wearing an all-brown ensemble, with his hands on his hips staring into the site’s van’s camera lens.
Pictured: Late grandfather Victor Austin captured with his hands on his hips angrily looking at the Google Street View camera
Michala Burrluck (right), 43, has revealed she copes with her grandfather’s death by looking at his bungalow on Google Street View – where he can be seen staring ‘angrily’ at the firm’s photo car for driving down his street
Ms Burrluck said he looked unimpressed by the car’s presence, as if to question why it had driven down his quiet road – something that she says regularly annoyed him when he was alive.
In other sweet images, Mr Austin can be seen waving to someone and then gazing into the camera.
Ms Burrluck revealed she makes the yearly virtual visit on July 30 – the anniversary of finding the image in 2013 – when she’s reminded by Facebook.
She said the discovery made her ‘shed a tear’ shortly after his death.
But it now gives the HR worker comfort in knowing there’s a ‘part of the internet where he’s still outside his house’.
She shared the sweet tradition on Facebook earlier this month [September 12] where it’s racked up more than 4,000 reactions from touched users.
In other sweet images, Mr Austin can be seen waving to someone and then gazing into the camera
Ms Burrluck said he looked unimpressed by the car’s presence, as if to question why it had driven down his quiet road – something that she says regularly annoyed him when he was alive
Ms Burrluck said: ‘I drive down the road on Google Street View a few times a year and it’s really comforting, it’s a bit emotional talking about it.
‘I like it when you can see him in the background, then you get closer and closer and see him standing there. You think “ah grandad’s still there, he’s outside his bungalow”.
‘I was a real grandad’s girl, we were always really close. He’d play practical jokes on us and he was quite the character, everybody knew him.
‘I first noticed him when I was looking at our house and then found his, and there he was. We all had a laugh about it at the time.
‘Every year it comes back up on my Facebook memories and I’ll check if he’s still there. Sometimes when I’m just on Google Street View I’ll just have a check too.
‘It’s nice to know there’s part of the internet with him still on there.’
Mr Austin, who lived a street away from Ms Burrluck for 30 years, used to take her to parks and garden centres as a kid and even de-iced her car in the morning when she got older.
The octogenarian’s dislike of large vehicles driving through his village hit the headlines in 2006 when he protested against lorries accessing sewage works.
He lived with wife Doris Austin at the bungalow until she died in 2001 aged 70 and he then moved into a care home in 2012 as his Alzheimer’s worsened.
Ms Burrluck hopes her children Elsie and Alice, both eight, will be able to see their grandad – who died before they were one – on the internet for years to come.
She’s been stunned by the reaction to her tradition on Facebook, with hundreds of comments expressing just how touching it is.
She shared the sweet tradition on Facebook earlier this month [September 12] where it’s racked up more than 4,000 reactions from touched users
She’s been stunned by the reaction to her tradition on Facebook, with hundreds of comments expressing just how touching it is
Michala’s post read: ‘My grandad is still outside his house. He died about eight years ago and was in a home two years prior to this, but it is lovely to just virtually drive down his road and see him.’
One commented: ‘Ah this is so lovely. I’d give anything to see my grandad standing outside his front door.’
Another wrote: ‘I hope they never change that photo ever!!! Hope you have captured it.’
A third commented: ‘This is so lovely.’
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