Diary Of A Busker Day 392 Wednesday June 26th Winchester High Street (1. Opposite Oxfam, Time: 4:01-5:05pm, 2. Opposite Bellis, Time: 5:14-5:37pm).
There are two 18(?) year old girls, near The Butter Cross. One’s playing a yellow ukulele and one’s playing a blue ukulele. They’re collecting money – quite a lot, in a woollen cap, so that spot’s out…and near the crossroads there’s a young guy playing a Spanish guitar through a black Micro Cube – like my first one, so that spot’s out as well. So it’s down the road to ‘old faithful’, where I set up almost directly opposite a homeless guy who I’ve seen down here before. We never give each other any trouble!
Around the half-hour mark, a man comes up, and, glancing at the bucket which has about £8 in, says, ‘Can you spare any of that?’ I say it back, trying to sound incredulous, which doesn’t take a lot of effort, ‘What? – can I spare any of that?’ He says, ‘Yeah, for the homeless’. The cheek. I say, ‘No, sorry’, and that’s that. The nerve.
I don’t play very well today. I don’t know why, either. My hands, especially the right one – the ‘poorly’ one, is really sluggish and my timing’s not too good, which depresses me. Even so, a little old lady (with ears of cloth) says she always enjoys hearing me play.
I pack up after an hour and head home, but then, on reaching The Butter Cross area, decide to do a short one, which turns out to be more or less a waste of time, in fact, in more than 20 minutes of playing, there was only one donation: a man gave 50p. For awhile I thought it was going to be the session which would yield not a single penny. This WILL happen – I know it! But then the bloke turned up and ruined it!
Earnings: £13.78p