Maya’s benches

As promised, the Urban Bush-Carpenters gave the benches we made during our July CERES workshop to river writer Maya Ward. On Saturday, she installed them in her front yard, in Brunswick, as public seating.

I arrived a few minutes late to see two strong men carrying the front fence away. There wasn’t much more to do, but we managed to occupy the rest of the morning doing it, nitpicking over the precise arrangement and placement of the seating in order to make it as inviting as possible.

Finally, we levelled the spaces in the front yard and the nature strip, hammered cut-off star-pickets deep into the soil and wired them to the benches, so the new seating won’t vanish with the sun.

And here we have it:

Dave, Jane, Maya and I ate a delicious lunch outside and exchanged salutations and conversations with many passers-by. The next-door neighbour sat for a while and a man from down the street promised to return another day with beer. The street now has a welcoming place – and a talking point.