Diary Of A Busker day 2529 Thursday April 24th 2025 Winchester.
For the third day on the trot, no one at the top spot so it’s mine, all mine! I open with La Vie En Rose then it’s Waterloo Sunset and a little bit better than yesterday, thank fuck. I’ve now come up with an approximation of the end bit where it stays on the B chord, so I’ll mess around with that and see what develops.
Don Lavelle comes down the road to have his packed lunch on the bench opposite, his latest high street view propped up a few feet away but what’s this…he gets his sketch book out and starts on something. Is it me? Because he bloody well keeps looking at me then at his book. Or is he looking at the monument behind me? Yes, it’s probably that. Time will tell but he’s never put me in anything yet. I think he should, though. I mean, I’m part of the bloody wallpaper! Anyway, he gives me £2 after Waterloo Sunset which is good enough for me. He’s probably amazed to hear me do something new.
After Don leaves, another man sits down on the bench near Smiths. He’s quite large, wearing shades and an England football shirt. After a bit, he comes across…
‘It’s good to see the old silver ones, like you.’
‘Old silver ones?’
‘Yeah, you know, you guys play all the old stuff.’
‘Right, yeah.’
‘Say, tell me, why haven’t you got a Telecaster or something else, you know, to bring out the low notes?’
‘Right, well, I’ve got loads of guitars and a a few of them are very expensive, like the two Gretsches I’ve got but you know, this one – it’s a Squier, it’s really cheap and it sounds better than all of them. It’s the high strings – they bring out the melody better than the others and that’s really important.’
‘Right, yeah, well it sounds good…I haven’t got any money…but you can have a can of cider if you like.’
‘Thanks…you’re alright, mate.’
‘OK, well, sounds good, keep playing.’ He walks off.
Two women and a man sit down where Don was sitting. The man comes across and in a Yorkshire accent says…
‘Can ya play Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin?’
‘Well, I can play bits of it.’
‘That’d be great, thank you’ and he returns to the bench as I go into the fingerpicked intro. In fact, I did it all up to the start of the solo at the end, which I didn’t want to get into because I can’t remember the whole thing and it would sound crap. But they all smile and clap and he comes over – ‘Great, just great, thank you. Now, do you know any Coldplay?’
‘Sorry, I can’t help you with that one. No Coldplay.’ Led Zeppelin then fucking Coldplay? At least he’s got diverse taste!
A bit later on, the cider bloke comes back and puts a tenner in my jacket top pocket – ‘There you go, keep it up.’ He sits down on the bench he was at before, next to a young woman who he starts chatting to while pointing at me. She’s drinking a Costa coffee and when she finishes it, she gets up and walks off, leaving the bloke on his own. After a song, he claps and shouts ‘Well, maybe they’ll catch on and do the same’ meaning people walking by. No such luck there, mate.
As I’m finishing Cavatina, six foreign students stop by next to me. Four girls, two boys. The girls are dancing with each other.
One of the boys says ‘Can you play something romantic?’
‘Romantic? Well, that last one was quite romantic. Cavatina.’
‘Yes? Could you play something romantic?’
‘Sure. Are you going to have a dance?’
‘What?’
‘Is one of those girls your girlfriend? Are you going to have a dance with her?’
‘No, I haven’t got a girlfriend.’
‘Oh. Why not?’
‘I’m scared of women.’
‘I don’t blame you mate, so am I. They’re scary, aren’t they?’
Anyway, I went into Can’t Help Falling In Love which kept the scary girls dancing, while the two blokes looked on.
It’s a funny old world. Poor lad. I felt sorry for him! ‘I’m scared of women.’