York walks: 2004

On 21 January 2004 in a sunny corner of the bar walls I found Peter's bench. I've seen it before, and read its inscription, saying that Peter worked on these walls. This time I saw it, it had flowers, and reading the plaque again, I saw it was ten years this month since his death.

The flowers hadn't been put on the seat, they'd been placed carefully in a plastic bottle containing water, and tied very thoughtfully and intricately to the backrest of the bench, around the plaque in its centre. The string supported the bottle upright, cradling it. It showed such love and care.

Ten years ago, when Peter died, I'd not experienced the death of someone close to me. Now I have. And I know that it's difficult to know how to properly convey how much the person you lost meant to you, how important they were. The flowers on the bench said it perfectly, and were the most important thing I saw that day, though I took a hundred photos.