Diary Of A Busker Day 619 Friday August 22nd 2014 Winchester (1. Corner of Monsoon, Market Street, Time: 2:25-4:25pm, 2. Opposite Bellis, Time: 4:43-5:45pm).
Some sad news. It began with the old lady who knitted those so-called wristies, and was going on about that Never Smile At A Crocodile song, paying me a visit (it sounds like I’m in a nursing home or prison). This was at the end of James Bond, which I messed up because I haven’t done it in ages. I used to play it everyday, once upon a time. Anyway, she says, ‘Is that a new one?’ I say, ‘No, I just haven’t played it for awhile, but I played one just before, which is a new one – The Sweeney’. She couldn’t remember it, so I did it for her – all 40 seconds of it.
She then suggests the Minder theme as another one to learn. Well, I’ve got no intention of learning that one but I said I’d ‘bear it in mind as I often do people’s song suggestions…for instance The Sweeney. That was suggested by Bertie The Flowerman. He used to work down there, in the alleyway’. My old lady then said, ‘Oh, is he the one who died?’, and then I thought ‘she must mean George – the older guy’, and I though ‘I haven’t seen him in months, since the beginning of the year’. So I said, ‘You must mean George’, and she said she didn’t know his name but she heard from someone he had cancer (that was definitely him) and he went in hospital and it all happened very quickly.
She was sad about it: he was a nice man, she said. He was, too. I always remember what he said when I couldn’t understand why some days I make more money than others, when all the factors are the same: time, place, weather, number of people about. He said, ‘It’s what the public want on a certain day’, and I kept saying, ‘But it doesn’t make sense, George – there’s no logic in it!’ And all he kept saying was, ‘It’s just what the public want on a certain day!’ So there you go – another good man gone from the High Street. My old lady said, ‘Well, we’ve all gotta go sometime’, and then SHE went!
On a lighter note…a bit later, I suddenly noticed there was a woman next to me with a dog. She said hello, so I did, too…then, realising I didn’t recognise her, she said she’d done the painting of me in Chichester. So it was Kirstin White! She thanked me for sending the CD, with her painting on the cover. We talked about doing some more paintings whenever we met. She said, ‘We could put them all in a line, people could spot you in them…Where’s Wally!’ ‘I know where he is’, I said.
Earnings: £47.06p (Including 1 CD)
Speaking of paintings, I finally got a message to Graham Marsden, who painted the Rockin’ At The Buttercross, and he sent me a photo of it (unsold and in his collection), and I knew straight away it wasn’t me. For a start, the person is playing standing up – that was the main thing. And he’s wearing what looks like a cowboy hat, and playing a Stratocaster style guitar. In short, it’s none other than “Rockin'” Rob Berry! Now, there IS an orange bucket, but it’s a big one, but this seemed to be enough to convince the Drongo that it was me. Oh well, they ARE Drongos and they know not what they think. Anyway, I sent a message to Rob on his Facebook thing but he hasn’t replied.