On reading this title, the mental connotations can’t help but spring into life – thoughts of great motherships, gravitational fields, orbits and star-hopping borne from all those science fiction TV programmes, books, comics and films consumed as children and yet, what I’m thinking of has nothing to do with outer space at all, but everything to do with inner space.
To get to the heart of what I’m thinking now, it would probably be far better to start from the other end of the phrase, looking at the word ‘stations’. Again, connotation is everything – to those who make regular commutes through the working week, images of train stations will flash through the mind, long days punctuated by a yearning to reach the quiet sanctuary of home while the world whizzes by a window at your side. For those of a more nervous disposition, the word might conjure thoughts of symbols of safety – fire stations, police stations, all those mechanisms that kick into action in an emergency, preserving life and helping us to avoid personal tragedy. For those who have leanings toward the more sacred, the stations of the cross will be at the forefront of their thoughts, picturing Christ’s last journey before crucifixion. Whatever your thought processes, the word ‘station’ clearly represents the idea of a staging point, a stop, and it is this concept that is key to understanding the word ‘space’ in this context.
The space to stop and to think, to catch our breath and to simply exist has, sadly, become a precious commodity these days. With so many demands upon our time and attention, ‘space’ in this incarnation becomes as valuable as gold, so when we do manage to find one of those space stations – small pockets of time and space – in which to pause on our life’s journey, gather ourselves and simply ponder, we should cherish them for the commodity that they are.
These space stations can be anywhere at any time, depending upon the person. Some will find this with their head bowed whilst sitting in church on a Sunday morning; others will find it while walking through woodland or even by simply disappearing for half an hour amongst the pages of a good book, finding a quiet niche in the corner of the story.
All of these, and more, apply to me or have applied to me over the years, but I find that the loveliest spaces of all are those that simply open up and swallow us benignly for a time when we are least expecting it.
Rachel and I had arranged to meet friends for a sea swim. All four of us had been at work that day and were tired both physically and mentally, but the arrangements had been made, so we honoured them. As soon as we set foot into the surf and felt the cool waters begin to wrap around us, we knew that we had made the right decision. After a swim we bobbed around chatting; here, then, was a lovely space station that we had found, or created, in our days, sharing it together. However, this wasn’t to be the end of it.
From our position floating around in the surf, we looked eastward toward the grey outline of Devon and watched as a ponderous storm front lumbered up over the high ground there, rearing large, shaggy banks of cloud up into the sky. Slowly, laboriously, it unfurled, and we watched on as here and there, distant patches of sky beneath were darkened by rain. The faint leading edge of this front arrived with us shortly afterward, a gentle breeze riffling up the water and dancing coolly across or cheeks, letting us know that the storm was only an hour or so away from us.
We swam on, chatted some more, bobbled some more and swam again until, tired and ready for our evening meal, we all decided to call it a day, saying our goodbyes until next time and heading for our respective homes.
Shortly after, with the salt still drying our skin, and with a cup of tea in hand, we watched through our living room window as the front finally closed in, enveloping the skies above us, clambering over the hills behind the house, drawing the day in like a purse and filling the whole vista with rain, forever closing that space station off to a shared memory and a satisfying ache in the muscles.
