Park Life

I thought of the Blur song from 1994 as I took this photograph as a lot of my life involves being in parks (dog walking mainly). I love the wide open space that parks offer and blue skies that are often limited in urban environments. I liked that this man was sitting on a bench in the snow and it made me wonder when park benches were invented. Was it the same time as Hume declared Carlton Hill the first purpose built place for leisure (another sort of park). I didn't find much about its origins, but I was interested that it is described as a piece of furniture for more than one person to sit on when so often we look around for a bench that no-one else is sitting on. Next time you want to sit on a park bench make it your mission to sit next to someone else. Push the boat out and even attempt to strike up a conversation. Go on, you know you want to.