Diary Of A Busker Day 573 Saturday June 14th 2014 Winchester (1. Opposite Pavilion, Time: 2:25-3:40pm, 2. Corner of Monsoon, Market Street, Time: 3:47-4:52pm, 3. Opposite Gieves & Hawkes, Time: 5:04-5:37pm).
A ‘note’ worthy day, in that for each session, amongst the usual donations of coinage, there was a £5 note.
For the first session it came from a young guy who, after he put it in the bucket, requested The Girl From Ipanema, which I don’t do, apart from the first chord! I was a bit embarrassed about this (I’m writing this two days later and have now learnt the song), but said I’d ‘look into it’, before thanking him profusely for the big donation. As I was packing up, another young guy donated £1.20p and said ‘I always see you around and always enjoy it’, which was nice.
Now for the second £5 note. Because the Drongo who breathes into the flute was near my usual Vodafone spot, I set up around the corner. A man was listening with his dad who was in a wheelchair. They were a safe distance away, near the market stalls. The man comes over and waves a fiver in front of me and asks if I know any flamenco. I say I don’t, mainly because it’s too difficult with my hand problem. I said he didn’t have to give me the note but he put it in the top pocket of my coat and went back to his dad, so I carried on, and then the guy went off and left his dad there for a few minutes…then he came back, came up to me again and said ‘My dad likes Spanish music, can you play THAT?’ Well, not really, apart from Siboney, which I’d done earlier and which I think they’d heard. So I say I don’t really know any proper Spanish music, and he says ‘You know any jazz? My dad really likes that’. No, I bloody well don’t! Why’s he picked the three kinds of music I don’t do?! – that’s really annoying!
Anyway, I think this guy had had a few drinks – his face was quite red, and I sensed he was getting a bit annoyed with me, which is tough. I mean, there’s not enough hours in the day to learn all the different styles of music in the world. So I did Deve Ser Amor – the nearest I can get to Spanish music. It’s Brazilian – that’s near enough, isn’t it?! And I did Siboney again. They drifted off with barely a wave, but I got the fiver. Bloody hell, no one plays everything!
The third and final fiver, donated at precisely 5:37pm, was from a woman who brushed my thanks (profuse, of course) away with a wave of her hand.
Earnings: £36.07p
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