The beach bench is back. Again.
Not only that, but it has magically appeared in the perfect spot, on the gravel just below the broad new concrete walkway along Ross Bay. The bench, fashioned from a driftwood log, has also been turned so that its carved seats are upright, waiting for a couple of passersby to plunk themselves down. It sits between Clover Point and the place where the people doing the concrete work continue to toil.
Maybe you read about the bench back in January 2020, not long after some kind, anonymous-to-most-of-us soul created it. People who frequent the beach said the man used hand tools to carve out the seats, each with its own armrest, then worked in oil to give them a nice finish. Somebody added waterproof cushions, making it a perfect perch for gazing at the clouds or watching the submarine races, or whatever.
Alas, it didn’t take long for a particularly hellacious winter storm to wash the log away — only to throw it back on the beach a few days later, upside down and pointing in the general direction of Duncan. Apparently this happened repeatedly over the next year or so, but because access has been limited by the construction work, it’s uncertain when the log made its most recent appearance below Dallas Road.
The bench is a little worse for wear, looking like it took the silver medal in a 10-round bout with King Neptune. The oiled wood is weathered. The cushions are long gone, replaced by driftwood and gravel. The little table that divided the two seats has snapped off.
But still, someone just took the time to position the bench to be used as originally intended.
After having that pointed out to him as he wandered past the log Tuesday, David Robinson was impressed. He doesn’t know the name of the bench’s creator, but recalled seeing the man carve it not long after Robinson moved to Victoria from Alberta. He enjoyed sitting in it once or twice. And now that someone has kindly moved it back into place, he might do so again.
Robinson likes what those efforts say about his new home. Somebody, without any expectation of reward or recognition, took it upon himself to fashion a place for others to sit. And then, after the bench got knocked akilter by the elements, someone else did what was needed to make it usable again.
“I love that,” he said. “I think it’s typical of the nice people in Victoria. I love Victoria. It’s still got a nice small city appeal. People treat each other well.”
Yes, they do, for the most part, though we don’t always remember that while yelling at one other about parks, bike lanes and masks, or whatever.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in what’s wrong that we miss the small gestures of common decency — the little free libraries have spread like zucchini, the chairs that appear at benchless bus stops, the water bowls left for passing dogs. Out-of-town visitors remark on the way Victoria transit users thank their bus drivers. On Friday, a Victoria woman took to Twitter to commend “the young person strolling ahead of me this morning who was quietly picking up garbage along the way.”
After the first story of the beach log appeared last January, a couple of readers wrote in separately to flesh out the tale.
One woman said that upon chatting to the anonymous craftsman, she had discovered the bench was the fourth that he had created, and that the first three had all been stolen. “Although this must have been very disappointing for him, he expressed no ill feeling or rancour against those who had removed his previous work, but simply started afresh to build another one.”
Another reader said that when he asked the man why he was carving the bench, “he indicated that he thought it would be nice to provide a seat with a pleasant view of the ocean for walkers. Simple as that.”
Yup. Nicely done.
jknox@timescolonist.com
