Virtual house hunting gets a pandemic boost

Temporarily forgetting she is sitting beside me, I shout to my wife: "I'm in the children's bedroom." We can't go to the Republic of Ireland ourselves to do this. Travellers from Great Britain need to restrict their movements for a fortnight, so nipping over and back is off the cards. But I can take several paces through a virtual seaside flat in Dublin's Dún Laoghaire, while based in our south London home. Circles appear on the floor of the Dublin flat and, using hand controls, I can glide between them and explore.