The Byte: Duncan Brown ~ Lost & Then Found

My guest this week has a charming story to tell...about how when lost in a city that was somewhat familiar to him...he got lost...and then? Well, then the miracle happened. But I'm not going to spoil it by spilling the beans! You'll just have to listen to the episode!

Transcript

Hello everyone,

And welcome back to another week of the podcast.

Today,

I am interviewing Duncan Baskerin-Brown.

He has a few books published.

He's a speaker,

He's an author.

He's also a Morris dancer,

Which is so very fun.

And we have a great conversation this week.

He has a really sweet story about being lost or finding himself lost when he travels to another country and the really gorgeous,

Serendipitous thing that happens.

That was his miracle this week.

I really enjoyed every moment of talking to him and he has an incredible sense of humor.

And I do want to let my new listeners know that there are two versions of every episode.

There's the bite-sized version,

Which has just the little nugget of the miracle or the magical event that's happened in the person's life.

And then of course,

There's the long form interview.

So depending on what you're in the mood for each week,

You can listen to one or the other,

Or if I'm lucky,

Maybe both.

All right.

I want to thank all my loyal listeners.

You'll never know how much it means to me that every single week you take the time to download the podcast and dive into another magical story from another amazing human being on this planet.

All right,

It's time for the episode and my interview with Duncan Brown.

There was something just not quite right about the way he said it,

But I didn't think too much about it.

I just wrote it down and I got on the plane.

And when I got to the airport in Bern,

I phoned the number and a very nice Swiss lady in broken English explained to me that this was not his phone number and he did not live here and she had never heard of him.

And that was a bit of a problem.

And this was quite a long time ago.

You know,

This was before mobile phones and emails and all of that sort of stuff.

So my communication options were sort of fairly limited because I was expecting to give him a call when I got there.

I wasn't entirely sure I'd been to Amsterdam before and then gone to Switzerland.

And if you've ever been to Amsterdam,

It's kind of place where time does not work in exactly the same way as everywhere else.

Well,

The main question of this podcast that I ask everybody is I would love to hear a story or stories that can be more than one where you feel like you've witnessed something that you thought was magical or miraculous in your life,

Something maybe mysterious,

Whatever you'd like to share with my audience.

I'd love to hear whatever story you'd like to tell.

So one of my best friends lives in Switzerland because he's Swiss.

It's not like he moved there.

He genuinely is from Bern,

The capital of Switzerland.

He's a great guy.

We met at an international scout camp,

You know,

Ages too long ago to mention,

Really.

And I was one summer I was going to go out and visit him.

And I spoke to him on the phone before I went out.

And he,

You know,

He just got a new new number.

And I said,

All right,

What's what's your new number?

And he said it to me.

And that was the way he said it.

It just didn't sound quite right.

His English is amazing.

I mean,

The guy reads Shakespeare like so he's his English is fantastic,

Which is really annoying because it's not actually even his second language.

So he lives in the German speaking part of Switzerland.

So that's his first language.

But his mom's from the French speaking part of the country.

So he grew up speaking French.

So English is like his third language.

Very annoying.

Anyway,

There was something just not quite right about the way he said it.

But I didn't think too much about it.

I just wrote it down and I got on the plane.

And when I got to the airport in Bern,

I found the number.

And a very nice Swiss lady in broken English explained to me that this was not his phone number and he did not live here.

And she had never heard of him.

And that was a bit of a problem.

And this was quite a long time ago.

You know,

This was before mobile phones and emails and all of that sort of stuff.

So my communication options were sort of fairly limited because I was expecting to give him a call when I got there.

I wasn't entirely sure.

I'd been to Amsterdam before and then gone to Switzerland.

And if you've ever been to Amsterdam,

It's kind of place where time does not work in exactly the same way as everywhere else.

So I wasn't sure when I was going to get there.

I just said I'd call him when I get there.

Obviously,

Like I've got.

Right.

I don't know how to get in touch with him.

I thought,

Right,

Well,

I'll just go into Bern.

I'll find myself a hotel.

It's not the end of the world.

I'm a big boy.

I can cope.

So I went and I found a hotel,

Dropped my bag off.

And I thought,

Well,

As I'm here,

I might as well have a bit of a look around.

I've got to go and find somewhere to have dinner.

So I walked into the center of Bern and I had been to his house before.

And he lives in one of the suburbs on the outskirts.

And as I was walking around,

I thought I'd start to recognize a few places.

And I thought,

Oh,

Yeah,

The the train to his the metro kind of train tram thing to his to the suburb he lives in is around here somewhere.

They called it the little blue train.

And I'm like,

I'll go and find the little blue train stop whilst I'm here.

Before I get any dinner,

I'll just go and find it.

And then maybe tomorrow when I've got a bit more time,

I can get on the thing and I think I know roughly which stop I've got to get off.

And I think if I just wander around his neighborhood,

I'll be able to find his house probably.

And actually,

If I just kind of like do my.

Oh,

I'm terribly sorry.

I'm a lost Englishman.

Do you know where the Ruders live routine?

I'll be absolutely fine.

So I'm walking towards this tram stop and the tram comes up.

And I,

You know,

I just glance up at the tram.

The doors open and he sat across from one of the doors.

So,

Yeah,

He was like,

My God,

What are you doing here?

Everyone,

I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of the podcast.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed my conversation with Duncan.

I love meeting other human beings who are hilarious.

And Duncan absolutely fits the bill.

Thanks to Duncan for telling his stories.

And thanks to all of you for listening to this labor of love of mine.

And thanks to all of you for listening to this labor of love of mine.

Whether you listen to the long form interview or just the delicious bite sized offering I have every week,

You have to know that I'm so very grateful that you take the time at all.

And please do remember,

I love those ratings and reviews.

So please do consider giving me a rating or writing a little review wherever you find the podcast.

Thank you for listening.

And here's my one request.

Be like Duncan.

Learn to Morris dance.

No,

You don't necessarily have to learn how to Morris dance.

But what kind of dancing do you like to do?

Do you like to dance in the dark?

Do you like to dance in public?

Do you like to dance in the middle of the street?

This world needs more dancing.

So no matter what it looks like,

You like Duncan.

Think about what kind of dancing you'd like to do.

And then by gum,

Go out and do it.

See you next week for the very next episode of the podcast.

And until then,

I hope your life is filled with beauty,

With friends that make you laugh and hours and hours of dancing.