COLUMN: HAVE you ever taken a moment to sit on a public bench and wonder why it's there? The answer of course is easy people. If you enjoy watching life go by, then someone's already done the research for you. So take a minute, park your backside and look around...

BY THE chicane where New Bond Street butts into Milsom Street, the council has placed two benches. Very Ikea all blond wood and clean lines, but why don't they put backs on benches these days? (A bench in a city as posh as Bath should surely also boast arm-rests and little pop-out holders for your caf lattes).

It's likely that the man from the council who positions benches also collects lorry registration numbers since from this vantage point, you're certainly privileged to watch whole convoys splutter and rumble by.

Of course, we all know why the benches are here Compassion Fatigue is now universally recognised as a major high street illness. And smiling apologetically can, after all, prove exhausting.

Walking up towards George Street, who hasn't ducked for cover into nearby shops to avoid the Big Issue vendors, the brightly bibbed beaming youths collecting for those less fortunate, and those ubiquitous market researchers who just 'want a second'? Just one moment of woolly liberalism and they'll have a Direct Debit in place.

An elderly lady eventually sat down next to me, looking whacked. And not surprising really since her lapels were so loaded with charity pins and stickers she was lugging a good two kilos of extra weight around with her.

Still, at least the tin-shakers must have lightened her purse to compensate.

So be grateful for a bench that helps you get your wind back and count the final cost of your charity. Because you'll certainly need it.