https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-m7rmq-15a9a2e
Walking around the park behind the hospital and considering the thoughts of Warren Buffet who said that uncertainty is everywhere.

“You know, people talk about this being an uncertain time. You know, all time is uncertain. I mean, it was uncertain back in 2007, we just didn’t know it was uncertain. It was uncertain on September 10th, 2001. It was uncertain on October 18th, 1987, you just didn’t know it.”— Warren Buffett

Episode transcript

Hello and welcome to Walk the Pod!

Your daily walking show where I take my podcast for a walk because I don’t have a dog. You’re very welcome along. This is episode two, series 45, where I’m walking around the park behind the hospital, welcoming you into the park with me to walk in nature for just 10 minutes, tempting you away from your desk.

And we’re talking about uncertainty this series, a very fascinating topic and I have something to bring you today which is that there is no such thing as an uncertain time, an idea I got from Warren Buffett, an American trillionaire probably by now or maybe maybe he’s no longer with us, should probably check.

Warren Buffett had some things to say on uncertainty and whether we’re ever in a time that we can call certain. And that’s an interesting thing to consider. I’ve also discovered that we’ve covered uncertainty once before. We actually talked about it in series 11 and it was at a similar time of year. So that’s quite interesting. It seems that March is a time where I like to consider uncertainty on an annual basis. So you’re very welcome along to Walk the Pod.

[A voicenote plays]

Hi Rach and Poddies,

I’m taking advantage of the new 90-second voice note feature because I’m in Regent’s Park in North London. It’s a big green lung, and for someone with asthma like me, any extra lung is music to my ears. Sandwiched between the West End and Primrose Hill, it’s the part of London that always reminds me of the cartoon version of 101 Dalmatians. I love it and will probably never live there because it’s too expensive.

The park is also famous for the zoo, the mosque, and the open-air theatre, none of which I can see right now. Just a few seconds ago, I whizzed past a child on a bright purple bike. She looked so happy! There are also lots of runners, none of whom look happy, and several hosts of golden daffodils, well, yellow actually, sorry Wordsworth.

[voicenote ends]

I don’t know why I reference Silicon Valley people and billionaires so much. Maybe there’s a tiny capitalist part of me amongst all the socialist tendencies. But Warren Buffett, the famous investor, spoke about uncertainty during the pandemic. He said there is no time that is not uncertain. The only difficulty we have is that we throw forward a plan of what we think the future will look like, and then when it’s disrupted by events, we get upset. The actual future looks exactly how it’s going to look. The only difficulty is that we thought otherwise.

So, when we consider uncertainty, we should think about whether there is ever any certainty or whether we just think there is.

Right now, I’m walking around the park in the rain. The rain is falling from the sky. There’s a white van ahead of me and puddles on the ground. In the distance, there’s a digger and the playground up ahead. It’s all rather wet, grey, and miserable, and there’s nobody about. The mud is getting very wet, the same mud I talked about yesterday.

Where are we in the pagan wheel of the year? Well, we are somewhere heading towards the spring equinox. The clocks are going to spring back (I should have said forward – Ed) quite soon. I was reading through a newsletter post I put out where I mentioned I really needed the clocks to spring back because I was getting depressed with all the wet and rain. It seems to be quite consistent, this feeling of being under the weather at this point in the year. Maybe that’s what “under the weather” actually means. Who knows?

Anyway, it’s a busy day at work, so I’m taking a break to walk around the hospital and take a breath of fresh air before I dive back in. It’s nice to be amongst nature, even if that nature is polluted. It’s still nice to be away from the emails and stress of work. The grass is very green, and there are little daisies poking through. All the foliage is starting to emerge, which is really nice.

Thank you so much to John for his walking report, a lovely walking report from central London, one of the green lungs of the capital in the UK. If you’d like to send a walking report, you can do so by going to walkthepod.com and leaving a voice note. I encourage you to share what uncertainty makes you think about. It doesn’t have to be deep thoughts; it could be anything.

As you can see, I’m not quoting quotes. I am simply recalling something I vaguely remember at the thought of Warren Buffett. You’re very welcome to join in. The more perspectives on uncertainty we get, the better.

Thank you so much for walking with me. It’s been a delight to stretch my legs with you this lunchtime in the rain. I hope you can hear some of the rain. Rain is a nice sound if you’re inside.

Take care of yourselves and each other. I hope you find a glimmer of joy in this imperfect day. Here’s hoping for sunshine soon. I’ll be back tomorrow.