This is a wonderful story, I love it when fact and fiction blend, recollection and invention swirling together like oil and vinegar to create a wonderful dressing for the salad of my mind :):
I have a similar relationship with some neglected benches tucked away in corners of the extensive park system along the river next to my house. I often amuse myself by watching the shades of yesteryear going about their daily business in my modern day haunts. Sometimes I even see my own past shade, crossing an intersection without looking up to see me watching, a remembered moment in a long ago day, a momentary arc of electricity bridging the gap between myself and myself ;)
RE: GHOST BENCH