Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

The editors: James & Alex

Keeping Up With The Joneses Part 3

Monday, 22nd January 2007 by Alex

Welcome to the third in a series that has seen competitive homeowners across the globe vying to emulate the affluence of their immediate neighbours - Keeping up with the Joneses Part 3! (Also see part 1 and part 2)

This time we’re in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the residents of Corstorphine appear to have been put under some considerable pressure to become the proud owners of their very own trampoline.

I actually couldn’t believe how many of these things there are - here’s one, and another, and another, and another! In fact the list goes on and on and on and on and on and on! I’d particularly like a shot on one of these ones, just to see if - by leaping from a nearby roof - you could make it all the way to one of next-door’s trampolines… :D

While we’re on the subject, Wilfred van Breda sent us this link to a barge in Rotterdam harbour, which he claims is owned by a friend and actually has a trampoline on board. Hmmm.

The same vessel actually appears elsewhere in the harbour too. Unless of course, this type of craft comes standard with a trampoline…

Thanks to Wilfred van Breda.

17 Responses to 'Keeping Up With The Joneses Part 3'

  1. 1. Gergely Vass says:

    Hi,

    so you think that all these people have trampolines, but no one in the area has above ground pool covered for the winter? The latter seems to me more probable…

  2. Google Sightseeing Admin
    2. Aaron says:

    Trust me Gergely - this is edinburgh, scotland - and those are not pools.

  3. 3. Ben says:

    Maybe it’s a secret Scottish Olympic training camp for young gymnasts. Sure, during the day everyone just gets a kick out of jumping on their tramps and waving to each other as they jump, but at night they’re all working on their double flips and dismounts.

  4. 4. Izzy says:

    In 2005 everyone was buying Trampolines. (And judging by the photos around my local area of Edinburgh that’s when these photos were taken - there’s a car park where the informatics building is going up at Edinburgh Uni) I think it was the item of choice for parents that year. Where I was working (in England) we sold out loads of times. Swimming pools went well too, but it was a particularly hot year. Go trampolines!

  5. 5. Gergely Vass says:

    “Scots jumping up and down over children’s trampolines”

    http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=573182006

  6. 6. de gibet says:

    a pool ? a trempolino ? what about an ad for condoms ??

  7. 7. cookie monster says:

    As Homer found out - no good can ever come from owning a tramampoline!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart’s_Inner_Child

  8. 8. Dan says:

    Very close by is a very sweet street:

    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

  9. 9. Wayne says:

    This reminds me of the John Cheever short story / Burt Lancaster film “The Swimmer,” where the main character travels home by swimming across all of his neighbors’ pools. Maybe we can have a Scottish remake where the main character does this via a chain of trampolines!

  10. 10. SYSS Mouse says:

    Hey, you gous are from Edinburgh, Scotland, right? Got one in your very own backyard?

  11. 11. George says:

    I got to keep up with the Joneses! But first I need to find out who the Joneses are…

  12. Google Sightseeing Admin
    12. Alex says:

    SYSS Mouse, unfortunately I live on the third floor.

    Which, now that I think about it, might be as good a reason as any to have a trampoline… :D

  13. Google Sightseeing Admin
    13. Aaron says:

    George, here you go, the Joneses!

  14. 14. phillip says:

    I can’t tell if this one is being jumped on at the time or just has a bunch of things stored on it.
    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

  15. 15. cookie monster says:

    I might write to Gordon Brown and suggest a Trampoline Tax - the NHS will be propped up for years on this evidence.
    The Daily Mail will be up in arms though because it does seem to be erm….ahem… a class thing doesnt it?
    Before long developers of exclusive middle class executive homes will include a trampoline in the price (along with a conservatory!).

  16. 16. pfly says:

    While QCing aerial photos of Pierce County, WA, USA, I was amazed at the number of trampolines… easily recognizable from the aerial photos. So to pass the time while QCing a whole county, whenever I saw trampolines, I did a quick cut and paste into an ever-growing collage of Pierce County trampolinage. Here’s the result, and only for part of the county, as I was only one of a bunch of people QCing the photos:
    http://www.pfly.net/misc/trampolines-1.jpg

  17. 17. tim says:

    This doesn’t strike me as odd… growing up, EVERYONE had backyard trampolines for their kids. Guess it’s not so common in the UK…

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