Kentmere Reservoir Tuesday 16th September
Richard writes:
I sit near the window with a cup of tea watching the vertical rain – at least it means there will be little wind – Paul arrives 2pm and we set off – a long level walk up the valley from Hallow Bank to the very end – a ‘box canyon’ of a valley like in the westerns, with the lake at the end – we swim at the widest point – the water is calm and lovely to swim in – comfortable long strokes watching the rain hit the surface – while the lake and mountains have a majestic feel to them.
I tackle Paul again on the question of swimming ‘home’ – what is ‘home’? – and we talk of it being not only a state of mind but also a connection to friends and family who are situated, so to speak, in that imaginary place ‘home’ – the community waiting for us on the imaginary bank of the last tarn – arms open to welcome us – and so to the feeling of being ‘held’ – ‘held in the bosom of the community’ – as if the feeling of being held by nature or the community is essential to feeling at home – and home-sickness is the state of not feeling held securely – ‘home’ a state of mind where one can come and go freely and feel held when one is in that state – feel the connection to friends, family and the natural world.
We trudge home through the rain talking of the very real (not imaginary) hot bath, dry clothes and dinner we will eat that evening regardless of state of mind.
On a larger scale our connection to the economy and the planet feels under threat as each news flash reveals more statistics to do with ‘global warming’ and the ‘credit crunch’ and seems to threaten our sense of being at home in the world.
Twilight gathers as we reach the car and I can’t help thinking of some lines of poetry I learnt at school……
‘..And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.’
