Diary Of A Busker Day 472 Wednesday November 13th 2013 Winchester (Opposite Vodafone, Time: 2:40-4:40pm.)
I’d been there only five minutes when who should turn up but Shirley and Eric, in a wheelchair (Eric, not Shirley). Of course, I saw Shirley not long ago, but I hadn’t seen Eric since well before his heart attack, and that was ages ago. He didn’t say much and he had his hands wrapped up in a scarf, poor bloke. I think it’ll be awhile till his next guitar lesson! I wonder if that’s it for Eric: being pushed around by Shirley, till the end.
She asks me about the cruise I went on a few weeks ago, so I say a bit about going ashore to Barcelona – sunny and hot, and Cannes – drizzling but warm. And at least I got some good ‘dough’ at the end. Shirley says she knows someone who gets paid to dance with single women on these cruise ships – ‘paid to partner’. There certainly are some bizarre jobs about! I can see it, though: lots of rich widows, that sort of thing. There’s a Somerset Maugham story there, I reckon.
During Ne Me Quitte Pas, a woman says ‘Your tie’s great’ – something which sort of confounded me, as I wasn’t wearing one, so I said ‘Sorry?’, and she said it again, louder, but this time it sounded like ‘Your guitar’s great’, which made more sense! – my fractured hearing again. Anyway, because of that, I name Ne Me Quitte Pas – Song Of The Day…a title it held for some three minutes. The reason being, the following song, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, collected a £5 note – from a(nother) woman, who didn’t stop to chat, and I’m afraid a £5 note wins hands down over a £1 coin, even though the lesser coin was accompanied by a superbly flattering comment.
Chet Atkins devotee, George, turns up to ask about any gigs I might have coming up. None, I say. Then, as we’re talking about this sorry state of affairs, a woman comes up and joins in, asking if I play anywhere else, so I – or rather George – tells her about when I went everywhere in Winchester in an effort to get some work but no place – not ONE – wanted to pay. Well, she took a card…you never know. Then George tells me he sold one of my CDs! One of the £10 ones I gave him to give to any club owner who might want to have me play. He said he had a friend around, put the CD on and the guy wanted to buy it, so George got sold it to him! Of course, George is going to give me the money but he hasn’t got it on him right now. He says he’ll give it to me when (more like IF) he comes around for another guitar lesson, next week, which is fair enough, although I’m not holding my breath, as the weekly lessons never came about. He came around that one time and that was it! I play Doc Watson’s version of Windy & Warm, then Borsalino, as I know George loves those, especially Borsalino. He again mentions Chet’s version of I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles, so I say (again) I’ll ‘look into it’. Sold my CD for a tenner, the sod! I had to laugh.
Earnings: £20.65p