spirit level

Water provides a metaphor of space for people - of mental space, of freedom, free-floating. All water - river, sea, pond, lake - holds memory and the space to think.

Water levels the spirit too (spirit level). It is the only opportunity we have in the landscape to see a truly level flatness; the rest of the landscape, especially in Britain, is always spiky, full of virtual lines - grass, trees, hills, buildings, people themselves, like Lowry's stick-people.

Space in nature, 'wide open spaces', are important for all of us, especially people in cities - we just need to know they're there.


Roger Deakin, Notes from Walnut Tree Farm, pp. 186-87.