Diary Of A Busker Day 566 Thursday May 29th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite River Island, Time: 1:20-2:25pm, 2. Opposite Bellis, Time: 2:30-2:55pm).
Just as I’m coming into town, it starts raining and the only place I can set up is at the Vodafone end of The Pentice, right near Big Issue Monica…and things were slow. That friendly foreign nanny and her charge, Ariadne, stopped in front and the baby leaned forward to see me while the nanny sorted out the transparent waterproof cover. Then, after leaving a donation – she always does, I went into Windy & Warm and I could see Ariadne smiling, so the nanny stopped, reversed and went under The Pentice shelter while I played the whole song, and the baby smiled the whole time. She must really like that one! I must remember to play that every time they come by. It was really good – it cheered me up…a bit. She really liked it.
Up the road, for the second set – the rain eased off somewhat, it’s slow again and it was getting me down, after being ‘up’ because of the baby liking the song…and then here he is again, Harry The Dutchman! First time since May 15th, and it was great to see him again. He says he’s off to Holland for awhile, to see his brother who’s not very well.
In the end, the money was OK, in fact, very slightly above the average. And I did see two nice people – regulars almost, and I think Ariadne’s starting to recognise me…and she seems to be waving these days, too.
Earnings: £17.46p
Note: In the evening, I took the 1950’s Raleigh Superbe up to London. I cycled from Waterloo to Fran’s place in Forest Hill, then to The Coach & Horses in Greenwich for Gary’s 50th drink (the event, not the amount he’d had!), and while I was there, outside the pub, the bike was stolen – it wasn’t 15 feet away. It was even front-fork locked. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve had it since 2008. I went back the next day to speak to someone at the security place but there was no CCTV aimed at the exact place where it was. And I went to Deptford Market, where the security guy said old bikes sometimes turn up. Nothing. Then again, when I showed him a photo of it, he said there was no way a bike like that would be there long, as it’s a classic.
On the Sunday, I went again to London, this time to the big market at Brick Lane, where I’d got a few old bikes (some of those were probably stolen!) when I used to live up there. No luck.
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