B.C. gnome returns from U.S. adventure
Book chronicles ornament’s travels down West Coast after being stolen eight months ago
There’s more to life than being peed upon by neighbourhood dogs.
That’s one of the philosophical musings contained in a book left in a clear plastic bag tied to a gate belonging to Bev York, an avid gardener in the semi-secluded community of Victoria’s Highlands, on Vancouver Island, B.C.
The book was placed alongside York’s ceramic garden gnome, which had been lifted from her garden eight months ago.
York, 60, a retiree who used to work with those with mental health challenges, said she learned of the ornament’s return when a man who was helping with her gardening told her: “You’ve had a gnome delivery.”
The bound book is written in the first person and begins: “Hi, my name is Leopold the travelling gnome.”
Leopold continues: “One morning back on December ’15, I saw a motorhome toddle along Finlayson Arm Road and I thought to myself, ‘There’s got to be more to life than standing knee-deep in rainwater, being peed on by neighbourhood dogs and staring at the same view every single day.’ ”
Included in the album are photos of Leopold drinking margaritas in what appears to be Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, and trekking the Grand Canyon. He also apparently schmoozed in diners, took selfies with cacti and got his kicks on Route 66. He came home cleaner than when he left and there’s a photo of him luxuriating in a plush bath towel.
Leopold’s book concludes: “Remember: adventure before dementia!”
“It’s a beautiful book,” York said. “They (thieves) absolutely know how to write.”
“Whoever did it has a good sense of humour and a good sense of whimsy,” she said.
For York, the episode was interesting, but she still wants to be left alone to tend to her garden.
She bought the gnome for $9.99 a few years ago, and attached no particular value to it. Until his abduction, the gnome had no name. “It was just a gnome sitting at the end of my driveway holding up the post.”
Leopold won’t be so far from her front door now, she said. “I have to bring it in close, near to the house, to keep an eye on it.” She said she has no clue who took it.
“At first I thought it was my exhusband,” she said.
The theft, travel and return with photos put Leopold in a rich tradition that spans decades and oceans.
There’s also a group, the Garden Gnome Liberation Front, which was particularly active in France in the 1990s. It vowed to take gnomes to their “native habitats.”
There’s even the 2001 French film, Amélie, in which Audrey Tautou stars as the title character. Amélie steals her father’s garden gnome and passes it to a friend who takes it on a roundthe-world journey, mailing home exotic photos to show how much more there is for her father to experience.
York has been hearing about the film a lot over the past few days, but has no burning desire to see it.
“I’m so far behind in my yardwork from talking to reporters,” she said with a laugh.
In real life, most gnome abductions remain cold cases. However, in 2008, English world traveller Simon Randles came clean about “borrowing” a gnome named Murphy from a Gloucester garden to be his travelling companion through South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong and Laos.