My name is Bernie Finklestein. I was born in Toronto, I currently live in Prince Edward County. A water body that has influenced my life is the Atlantic Ocean. When I was 10 years old, just about to turn 11 actually, my father was in the Canadian Air Force. We got stationed to England. So we got to go on an ocean liner, it was called the SS Numeric. It was an Italian boat. It was 1955. I had never ever been on any boat, never mind a big ocean liner and never mind a big ocean like the Atlantic Ocean.

I’ll just never ever forget being on that boat and looking and all you could see was water no matter whichever way you looked. You were right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on the crossing. It’s an image that never left my mind really.

I guess the Earth is something like 80% water – is that right? There I was in the middle of the Atlantic on this boat. I don’t know that I knew this when I was 10, but you get a great idea of what infinity was in a sense so it was really beautiful.