Harper-Thames on territorial feelings toward a specific spot of public seating and the stranger who dared sit there first
There’s a bench along my usual stretch of river that I have, entirely in my own head, claimed as personal property over the past several months, despite it being, obviously, completely public seating that belongs to absolutely nobody in particular including me. This week someone else was sitting on it when I arrived, and I want to talk honestly about how unreasonably annoyed this made me.
Why This Particular Bench
Perfect angle on the water, just enough shade from the tree behind it without losing the view, positioned exactly where the light does something lovely around early evening most days. I have genuinely spent months perfecting my understanding of this one specific spot.
The Stranger Who Dared
A perfectly pleasant looking man, reading what appeared to be a genuinely good book, sitting entirely reasonably on a public bench he had every right to occupy, and yet I felt a completely irrational flash of proprietary irritation that I am not remotely proud of admitting to in writing.
What I Actually Did About It
Nothing, obviously, because I am an adult with at least some functioning sense of perspective, and I found a different spot slightly further along that turned out, somewhat annoyingly, to also have a rather nice view I’d never properly noticed before this particular incident.
The Uncomfortable Realisation
Maybe I’ve been missing out on other good spots this whole time by getting so attached to one particular bench that I stopped actually exploring the rest of this stretch of river with any real curiosity or openness to something new.
Whether I’ve Learned Anything From This
Marginally. I still want my bench back, and I will absolutely reclaim it the moment it’s free again, but I’ve also added two new spots to my rotation, so something genuinely productive did come out of my entirely unreasonable territorial feelings this particular week.