Diary Of A Busker Day 2539 Wednesday May 7th 2025 Winchester.
A two hour stretch at the top spot earned just under £20 – not good enough but at the end I had a nice visit from a man who I don’t know
He said ‘You’re famous! There’s a photo of you in the new surgery and I thought I’d tell you about it, you know the new St Clements place? They shut the old one down and there’s a photo of you and there’s another one on the wall outside. That one is black and white and you’re cut in half by part of the building. Anyway, I just thought you’d like to know.’
I thanked him for telling me and maybe I shouldn’t have said it, but I told him I was told about it by someone else and I’ve now seen both of them.
‘Oh, well sorry for interrupting you but you’re part of the wallpaper of Winchester…’
‘No, it’s OK, thank you. I know, I’m now LITERALLY part of the wallpaper!’
‘But that’s good, I mean, that surgery is brand new and you’re bound to be up there for another four or five years, at least. You’re immortalised!’ (well, four or five years is a lot longer than most people’s fifteen minutes).
‘Haha! yeah, I reckon you’re right.’
‘No, it’s really good, I mean who is the mayor?’
‘The mayor? I don’t know.’
‘Exactly, no one knows who it is but everyone knows YOU. You’ve been Marvin the Busker a lot longer than the mayor’s been the mayor.’
‘Yeah, you’re right!’
‘You know that painter? Don someone?’
‘Yeah, Don Lavelle.’
‘Yeah, I see him…is he going to put you in a painting because he should.
‘I think he should, as well! I mean, he paints all these scenes of the Buttercross and I’m here most of the time! But I know he does a lot of commissions. He paints people in and they pay him a few hundred quid – I’m not sure how much. I don’t ask him.’
‘Well, he should put you in. Anyway, sorry to bother you but always good to hear you and you deserve it – I mean the pictures at the surgery.’
That cheered me up and I was ready to take a short toilet break and carry on for another hour somewhere else…and that somewhere else was somewhere I haven’t played in years, namely at the corner of Marks & Spencers, or M&S as it’s now called. In other words, the old “opposite Debenhams” spot, now “opposite Nando’s”, which doesn’t quite have the same ring but who cares?! At least, unlike the first spot, it was in the sun.
I made a point of playing all or most of the songs I didn’t play the last time I was here. So Waterloo Sunset to start off, then Tales Of The Unexpected, Julia Florida, Cavatina, Anjie, It Must Be Love…
…and another nice encounter. This time with Michael, who bought two CDs then requested Here, There And Everywhere, which I’d forgotten about (hadn’t played that here before). And then, weirdly enough, because I’m sure he doesn’t know the bloke up at The Buttercross, he brought up Don Lavelle…
‘I really think he should put you in a painting, you know.’
‘Haha, someone else said that about an hour ago!’
‘Well, I spoke to him about it and he said he’d done some sketches of you…’
‘Really? Well, I know I’ve seen him on his lunch break, sitting on a bench at The Buttercross and I’ve seen him get out his sketch book and look at me then look at his book. I’ve seen him do that but I wasn’t sure if he was looking at me or the monument behind me! It’s really hard to tell but now you’ve said that, wow, maybe he’ll put me in something. I mean, I’m there all the bloody time! But I know he paints people in for commissions…’
‘Oh right, well yes, he probably charges £500, £600?’
‘I don’t know, something like that. I sometimes think maybe I should ask him if he could put me in something, not really big but just a tiny one of me!’
I reckon he’s got to sooner or later, possibly if he outlives me because you never know. I might have to wait until then, though, like how they name roads and airports and ferry terminals after people, but only after they’ve died. Anyway, after Here, There And Everywhere, I offered to play Michael Here Comes The Sun but he had to be off and said next time. What a nice chap, two nice chaps, in fact.