A flood-protection plan is rarely about water alone. Yesterday I stood at the edge of Cousins Quay with two notebooks: one holding numbers pulled from a planning document, the other holding sentences I couldn't stop drafting about how the wind comes off the trail there. That's the work in miniature — analyst's column on the left, writer's column on the right, and me walking between them.

Testing Before Typing

I'd rather file a comment on a development application myself than describe the process secondhand. So I do: I read the drawings, sit through the open house, dig out the deadline buried on page nine, and write the thing. When I explain how to do the same, the sticking points are ones I've actually hit. Trends earn my attention only when they can be tested, and most can be, with a walk, a good question and ten minutes of patience.

• Plain-language breakdowns of Villiers Island flood protection and what each phase actually changes.
• Waterfront trail notes written the way a pedestrian experiences them, not the way a map presents them.
• Practical steps for commenting on a development application before the window shuts.
• Material pitched so a first-timer and a twenty-year veteran can read the same paragraph.

Come Say Hello

If you've spotted something I missed, or you're stuck on where to begin, send me a note — questions are the best part of this job, and I answer every one.