Big sky, tiny us

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Big_Sky_Sunset_-_geograph.org.uk_-_624786.jpg

The sky is so big in some places. I remember in South Africa it was immense. Bigger than I ever imagined growing up between the buildings of London. Its sheer size took the sky from the background of the picture to the embracing space around the earth. And around tiny us.

There's a place two minutes walk from the place I live where the road follows the railway tracks and the sky opens up and it's so huge you can feel the quality of the light making the hairs stand up behind your ears. It takes my breath away. Some days there are beautiful cloud formations and on others a flock of birds decorates the sky with perfect curves. This sky speaks to the deep part of me that has roots in the earth. For a moment I am fully aware of my intrinsic part in it.

But somebody else saw this space as a small undeveloped triangle of real estate. And the council passed the plans. Sure, there is a pressing need for good quality cheaper housing. And our council is having to manage our over-populated environment with less and less funding. But there is a also a pressing human need for uncurated contact with the natural world. 

Without it we lose touch with the instinctual intelligence of our animal bodies. And the extraordinary subliminal joy of it.

There are still many wide open spaces in London where anyone can experience the grandeur of our earth. Let's keep it that way.