Diary Of A Busker Day 2559 Tuesday June 10th 2025 Southampton.
Back to where it all started…and a bit later than planned due to some idiot on the train pulling the emergency lever with such force at Southampton Airport Parkway, one of the train doors wouldn’t shut so the train wouldn’t move and we all had to get off and wait for another one.
Amazingly, there was no one else playing (unheard of!) so I had my pick of spots. I opted for the one opposite the mall entrance. Unfortunately, there was zero coinage for the first half hour and I was starting to think about going back to Winchester and doing something there. It picked up a bit, though.
Some bloke came by and stood next to me playing air guitar and saying ‘Give it some Brian May!…let’s hear some Brian May…Brian May! etc….’ I decided to ignore him completely. I didn’t want to get into an exchange about Brian bloody May and I didn’t even look at him and after a few minutes he wandered off.
A young Chinese woman stood a few feet away, got out her phone and started tinkering with it. After a bit, she came up and said ‘Look, this is you in August 2024’ and showed me a photo of me playing in The Square but what was interesting was the guitar I was playing – the psychedelic double-neck because I think that was the only time I’d played it out on the streets for years. Anyway, this woman was Flora, a student at the university here and what was equally interesting was that she hardly ever comes into the centre of Southampton, as I rarely do, and here we both are! She says she’s going back to China soon so won’t see me for awhile. That’s OK, I said, she could watch some of my videos until she comes back again!
I ended up doing a mammoth THREE hours without a break and took home £31, which is hardly worth it. Thank fuck it doesn’t take too long to get here…usually.