FINDING out what became of old friends and colleagues has never been easier thanks to the massive reach of Google.
However, that doesn't mean you will enjoy what you discover.
In fact, I had a bad experience the other day involving beautiful, gentle, doe-eyed Sue - not her real name -a girl who stole my heart at 17.
Chaste kisses and hand-holding were all we enjoyed before our shaky 'romance' hit the buffers.
I obviously bored her.
She left me for my friend Jack (not his real name either). Agonisingly, both were fellow students in my A-level English Lit' class and I endured the torments of hell as I witnessed their tendernesses together for the rest of that year.
Despite this, I still held a secret torch for Sue over almost three decades but never had a clue what became of her.
I often thought about meeting her again.
She would probably now be a Florence Nightingale figure, I reckoned, ministering to some poor souls in a far flung land, her soft hands cupping orphaned children's cheeks in the way they once cupped mine.
'We were too young then,' she might whisper, as we embraced after so long apart.
But what really happened to Sue ?
I Googled her.
Aaaargh ! She became an American. Worse, she is now a terrifying motivational coach for US businessmen.
In the internet snapshot I found, she is still attractive but her gorgeous auburn hair has been cut into a severe bob and her once warm, hazel eyes are icy.
All my fantasies are now dead.
If we met again, instead of offering quiet reassurance, the real Sue would most likely bark:'Get with the program, dork !'