Is there room for absolute space or time?

Is there no room for absolute space and time on which everything is compared? Einstein says: “the time required by a particular occurrence with respect to the carriage must not be considered equal to the duration of the same occurrence as judged from the embankment (as reference-body). Hence it cannot be contended that the man in walking travels the distance w relative to the railway line in a time which is equal to one second as judged from the embankment” (33). I understand the difference he is stating from one viewpoint to another, but my question is whether or not there would be a difference as considered from a ‘bird’s-eye’ view taken from the perspective of absolute space or time. Why cannot one abstract himself from his reference point to consider these motions? Or is this the problem he discusses earlier of making theoretical geometry work in real situations and be proven by experiments?