English Bay Beach, one of Vancouver’s city beaches close to Stanley Park, faced the Burrard Inlet towards Vancouver Island. Over the gritty sand, logs stretched like beached whales. Having never seen logs on any other beach in the world, I wasn’t sure if the giants escaped from holdings along the Fraser River or were deliberately brought to the site. But in a city with more rainy days than sunshine, it might be useful to sit on a log rather than damp sand.

Seagulls rotated over the water while others waddled closer to someone eating. On the rainy day I arrived, I spotted a heron hunched on a branch until it pushed off on its long spindly legs.

On a hot summer day, crowds covered this beach but there haven’t been too many of those days so far this summer.